Touched by sun and sea
ONE of Italy’s greatest virtues as a wine region is its bounty of indigenous grape varieties. Each, it seems, is built to thrive in the region where you find it, having benefited from a couple thousand years’ worth of viticultural trial and error. No matter how hot or cold, fog-bound or sun-soaked, the right grape takes root and finds its rhythm within the vicissitudes of the climate and the soil.
Along Italy’s coastline, sun-worshipping varietals cling to seaside cliffs from Genoa to Naples, out to the islands and the Adriatic. Each region has its own retinue of native grapes; taken together, these Italian coastal whites -- Verdicchios, Vermentinos, Pigatos, and Grillos -- may be the sunniest wines on the planet. They’re fresh, gratifying and affordable. And they’re ideal for your summer table, especially with Mediterranean fare.
Fifteen years ago such wines were rarities here, but they’ve lately garnered an ardent, if small, L.A. following. Part of the reason for this is Campanile, and Manfred Krankl.
Krankl, now a well-known and highly regarded winemaker (Sine Qua Non Winery in Ventura), was a partner at Campanile, and its founding wine director from 1989 to 1996. From the start, Krankl front-loaded his wine list with white wines from the Italian coast to complement the breakthrough Mediterranean creations of chefs Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton.
“The wines always worked so well with grilled foods,” Krankl says, “and with flavors that went with them, olive oils, citrus. They really fit the California lifestyle.”
Krankl’s infatuation with these wines has left its mark on L.A. His successors as wine director have continued the Italian coastal white tradition not only at Campanile but also at their new ventures: Claudio Blotta brought it to La Terza, George Cossette took it to his wine shop, Silverlake Wine, and David Rosoff is certain to include several coastal whites at his new restaurant venture, the soon-to-be-open Mozza.
“I used to think these wines were very simple,” Rosoff says, “but they’re really not. They are substantial wines, grown in hot places, and they’re not shy; they can be rich, with fully developed flavors.”
“They aren’t always the most flamboyant,” Cossette says. “Sometimes their texture is their most important feature.”
Liguria embodies the Campanile coastal aesthetic. This crescent-shaped region south of Piedmont and not far from the French Riviera features some of the most dramatic vineyard land in the world, with terraced vineyards perched on soaring seaside cliffs.
Ligurian wines are somewhat rare outside of restaurants that specialize in Italian seafood, but you can find them in selected wine shops. They’re likely to be made from either Vermentino or Pigato, two names for what may be the same grape: The Oxford Companion to Wine reports that they have identical DNA. The best available in the U.S. come from two DOCs (regional quality zones).
Coastal wonders
THE first is the Riviera Ligure di Ponente -- Pigato country -- on the slopes west of Genoa; the Ligurian crescent then curves to greet the eastern sun, forming a second DOC for Vermentino, called Colli di Luni, in the hills above the Cinqueterre. No plate of calamari is complete without a glass of Colli di Luni at its side.
For Pigatos, look for the lean, aromatic wines of Durin, or those of Ricardo Bruna; and in the Colli di Luni, the wines of Giacomelli and especially the complex Vermentinos of Ottaviano Lambruschi are worth seeking out.
Most possess an exotic herbal tinge, a regional marker that’s piney to some, olivey to others and a feature that makes them well-suited to dishes with the sea-and-herb melange of Genovese cuisine, such as pastas with pesto and shrimp. Many perceive a pronounced salty tang to the wines, or a pleasing, saline minerality. It’s not hard to imagine where this comes from.
Cross the Apennines to the Marches, on the Adriatic side, and you’ll find yourself on Italy’s middle ground, where it is generally warmer and drier than Liguria. You can get crudo, sashimi’s Italian cousin, just about anywhere on the coast, but here it seems to be elemental: bite-sized slabs of tuna or branzino flecked with salt and an olive oil drizzle, offering intense flavor.
“We have a beautiful crudo we make with just raw scallop,” says Blotta of La Terza. “You must have Verdicchio with this.”
At Il Grano, crudo’s unofficial headquarters in L.A., Stefano Ongaro likes to pair his scallops with another Verdicchio, a 2001 Classico Riserva from Villa Bucci, where that bottle age adds some sweetness that works with the sweet flesh of the scallop.
Verdicchio is grown almost nowhere else but the Marches. It thrives on the sun-soaked hillsides rising from the coastal city of Ancona, within a DOC zone called Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, where quality-minded winemakers have been slashing yields and eliminating the use of skins in the fermentation process for much lighter, fresher wines.
A good Verdicchio has a bright lemony scent and pretty pine and citrus aromas, with fresh snap to the flavors and a pleasing, almond-skin bitterness to the finish. You find these qualities in the wines of Sartarelli, which makes a delicious, inexpensive Classico, clean, bright and fragrant, and superb with crudo or scallops seared simply with olive oil and herbs.
Less common but just as delicious is Pecorino, a grape that yields a rich and lemony white wine with a hint of almond or marzipan flavor. Ciu Ciu makes a delightful one from the Offida DOC, called le Merlettaie.
Of the islands, Sicily possesses a small number of compelling indigenous white varieties. Look for grapes such as Inzolia and Grecanico, both of which, along with Catarratto, are heavily planted for Marsala. The captivating Grillo is an aromatic variety that smells of fruit tree blossoms and has plenty of weight in the mouth. These four grapes are often blended, as in the lovely Mirabile, a proprietary white which includes Grillo, Grecanico and a touch of non-native Viognier for perfume.
Sardinia’s best white has always been Vermentino, which usually makes for a fragrant and simple wine. The exception, however, are grapes from Gallura, on the island’s northern tip. Vermentino di Gallura vineyards are set in hardscrabble, rock-strewn granitic soils where the wines acquire a pleasing minerality. With its exotic flavors of tangerine, citrus oil and almonds, Piero Mancini makes one of the finest -- delicious with spaghettini alla bottarga, pasta with tuna roe.
Campania reigns
PERHAPS the most exciting place for coastal whites right now is Campania. From the coastal hills rising above Naples and abutting Vesuvio, to the Amalfi Coast (and well inland) this is arguably the most exhilarating wine region in Italy, where modern winemaking technique dovetails with an assiduous, painstaking effort at resurrecting ancient native varieties (both red and white).
No place in Campania is far from the Mediterranean, but the landscape changes rapidly as you ascend into the hills. Just 15 miles from the coast is a fog-enshrouded, volcanic region that’s almost alpine in character, not unlike Piedmont.
“Campania is that rare confluence of the characteristics of wines of the hills and wines of the sun, wines with minerality and electricity,” says David Rosoff.
For coastal character in Campania you may as well start with one of the region’s saviors, Mastroberardino, which along with Feudi di San Gregorio has revived old vineyards and rescued many native grape varieties from extinction. Its Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio, made from the Coda di Volpe (tail of the fox) grape grown in the foothills of Vesuvius, seems at once lean and rich, with flavors of white peach and mandarin orange. It has enough body for salt cod or brodetto, a heady fish stew.
Clinging to the Amalfi Coast are the tiny vineyards of Marisa Cuomo, who makes incandescent coastal blends from vineyards perched on cliff sides as vertiginous as those in Liguria.
Finally, do not miss the sea-kissed mineral wines of De Conciliis. This coastal producer, from a fairly obscure region south of the Amalfi Coast called Cilento, makes a rich yet bracing Fiano called Donnaluna. Wines from the southern shores are a little richer than their northern counterparts; they can stand up to an oil-rich fish like swordfish, or sardines.
Or all on their own, in the California sun.