NORTHERN ITALIAN WHITES

Victor Hazan, the author and translator (most famously of his wife’s, Marcella Hazan’s, books) once told me, “The duty of wine is to be red”—while sipping some of same.  

We tend to share Hazan’s dismissal of especially Italian white wines in favor of those made from the “nobler” grapes sangiovese, say, or nebbiolo. 

We lionize Chianti, Brunello, Barolo and Amarone, and purchase little but red from Sicily or Puglia, the latter our two favorite go-to best-buy Italian red wine regions. 

But Italian white wines have advanced so greatly in the past 40 years that this dismissal of them is both sad and mistaken. This is especially true in the north of the country, an area felicitous for growing white wine grapes for its cool climate and diversity of mineral-rich soils. 

For example, the northern region of Alto Adige produces, at just under 99 percent of all wine from there, the greatest amount of DOC wine (or highest quality designation) of all of Italy’s 20 winemaking areas. Like many northern climes, it is surprisingly sunny (more than 300 days a year), making for extended growing seasons and, hence, development of greater flavor in its grapes. And it is known primarily for its white wines. 

Here is a lexicon of sorts of Italian white wine grapes, some unfamiliar, made into stellar wine in the north, as well as recommendations for wines made from each. 

Pinot grigio is the battered housewife of the north. Over cropped, crudely made (and often wildly expensive for what little it offers), tsunamis of pinot grigio wash over our meals to ill effect. In its stead, I often serve Evian for its greater flavor. But good pinot grigio does exist, if made by those who care. It’s all aromas and flavors of green apple, just-ripe pear, and minerals, sometimes hinting at spice, with whip-snap acidity to cleanse the palate. 

Pinot bianco evolves from the same family Pinot. It has the same apple-y notes as pinot grigio (more Golden than Granny), but sports a rounder, softer texture.  

Sauvignon blanc has been around the north of Italy since its introduction from France in the late 1800s. In good examples it turns out as it does in the Loire, with citrus notes and an intensity of aroma and flavor. In Italy it is often called, simply, “sauvignon.” 

Although commonly associated with France’s Alsace, Gewurztraminer originated in Italy’s north (from around the town of Tramin, hence the name, the “aromatic grape of Tramin”). Here, it is less fulsome than in Alsace, but certainly with its distinctive varietal character. 

Like pinot grigio, many examples of Chardonnay from the north fail to measure up to the grape’s potential for raw deliciousness (and for the same reason: over-cropping with the aim of mass production). But, again, from skillful and conscientious producers, it can shine.

Piedmont’s most widely planted wine grape isn’t red; it’s white. The Moscato grown in the north generally goes into sparkling or “frizzante” (slightly sparkling), off-dry or sometimes sweet wine. It’s on all fours delicious, a perfect aperitif. 

You won’t see the grape variety Garganega on a label of wine from Italy’s northern region of the Veneto, second only to Alto Adige in DOC wines. But it is the mainstay of the very familiar Soave, a crisp white also much abused by quick-buck winemakers. Happily, not by all.