I think I know Gavi wine pretty well. My husband, Claudio, has a house in Arquata Scrivia – just one hill over from Gavi’s DOCG border. We always included a Gavi estate in our Land of Barolo tour, which we ran for 20 years.

So I eagerly signed up for annual Gavi tasting, presented by the Gavi consortium. The introduction was provided by Lars Leicht, SOMMJournal, VP of Education. He started with the basics, like Gavi is a mirror image of the big reds from Barolo and Barbaresco, being a white made from the cortese grape. Like Barolo, it has 11 townships making about the same amount of wine: 13-million bottles. The grape is not highly aromatic, unlike say sauvignon blanc or gewürztraminer. The way Leicht described it as “like hanging out with a sullen teenager: You really have to coax it out.” But if you do, you’ll find white flowers and a hint of citrus, followed by a bitter almond finish, which Italians love. Leicht went on to talk about the difference between red soil (greater body and structure) and white soil (elegance, delicateness, and more aromatics). He then proceeded to discuss the weather in recent vintages. And with this background, we could finally dive in to taste.

There were 44 Gavi wines to choose from. Each person had a notepad identifying their seat and a booklet with all the wines numbered. We’d fill the six empty boxes with the six wines we wanted to try – and repeat. The only limit was time. I started with the wineries we’d been to on tour. These included Il Poggio, La Giustiniana, Villa Sparina, Broglia, and Michele Chiarlo. Then I proceeded to wineries I’d heard about, like La Toledana, La Ghibellina, La Bollina, Picollo Ernesto, and Enrico Serafino, but never visited. Next up were wineries I’d never heard of, like Marchese Luca Spinola, Ottosoldi, Produttori del Gavi, Roberto Sarotto, Tenuta San Pietro, and La Zerba.

The wines ranged from meh to rich to concentrated to perfumed. There were also Gavi wines that make a good aperitif with good minerality. I always love Gavi wines from Il Poggio (light-bodied with aromas of lemon/lime), Broglia (floral and intense), La Giustininia (great minerality). I also thought La Toledana was quite impressive in its richness. Michele Chiarlo’s Gavi was elegant – a characteristic of the estate – and with the bitter almond finish that’s typical of the cortese grape.

All in all, it was a great primer on Gavi – which for me needs no introduction.

For more on Gavi wine, see my feature story for TASTES OF ITALIA magazine: “Inside Gavi: Piedmont’s White Wine Town”.