Gavi comes from the far south-east of Piedmont, in the province of Alessandria, close to the Ligurian border and the coast. It has been a DOCG since 1998 and is made from pure Cortese. The grape is grown elsewhere too, but it is here, on the pale marl soils of this zone, that it gives more than a neutral white.
The phrase to look for is Gavi di Gavi, or Gavi del Comune di Gavi. It signals that the fruit comes from the commune of Gavi alone, the historic heart of the appellation, rather than from the other ten permitted communes. It is not a formal quality hierarchy, but it is a statement of origin that the more serious producers use.
The wine is dry and pale, with citrus, green apple and a dry mineral note; acidity is lively and the finish often faintly almondy. Historically it was the white of Ligurian restaurants, served with fish, and that remains its most convincing role.
Gavi went through a phase of overproduction that flattened its image, but hillside bottlings at low yields show an ability to hold two or three years in bottle that few expect from a white of this area.
