Italian wine and grape guide : Gavi DOCG

Gavi is a great Italian wine and whether you think that Gavi di Gavi and Gavi are two different wines or not, that one is better than the other, there is only one appellation and one wine, the Gavi DOCG.

Gavi, from 1998 a DOCG wine, is one of the most famous and known Italian white wines and the reason behind some of the wines being labellled Gavi di Gavi or Gavi del comune di Gavi and some only Gavi, lies in the vineyards locations, a Gavi di Gavi or Gavi del comune di Gavi wine simply indicated that the vineyards from which the grapes come from are located within the borders of the town of Gavi, all other simply Gavi wines made are made from grapes grown within the appellation area, but outside the town of Gavi and there are good and bad Gavi wines in and outside the” di Gavi” area.

There are several Italian wine appellations that, despite being one, allow wine maker to have additional words on the label, “classico” is one, except for the Chianti where Classico is actually a different appellation and area all together.

Gavi DOCG is a white wine produced in the Alto Monferrato, in the southern part of the province of Alessandria, Piedmont, north east of Italy, on border with Liguria and made exclusively from Cortese grapes cultivated in the town of Gavi and surrounding villages, from which it takes its name. The Cortese grape is widely outside the DOCG area but they cannot be called Gavi.

The Gavi DOCG wine has a light straw colour with green hues and a delicate, fruity nose with apple hints. The wine is dry, fresh, full and elegant. In the last few years, wine makers have started to produce more structured and complex wines with very good results proving that the Cortese grape grown in the Gavi area is suitable for aging in bottle or barrels.