Cortese

Cortese has been grown in south-eastern Piedmont for centuries. A 1659 document preserved in the archives of Novi Ligure records vineyards of Cortese bianco planted for dry wine, and by the late nineteenth century the variety was widespread across the province of Alessandria, valued for its reliable yields and its resistance to disease. Its modern reputation was built at Gavi, whose dry whites climbed steadily in quality through the twentieth century until the appellation was raised to DOCG in 1998.

The grape is a faithful mirror of its terroir. It ripens early and holds its acidity high, and on the marl and limestone soils of Gavi and the Alto Monferrato it gives a wine of mineral precision rather than showy aroma. Expect green apple, lemon, unripe pear and white flowers, always closing on the faintly bitter almond note that marks a true Cortese. With a year or two in bottle the best examples gain a waxy, flinty depth.

Most Cortese is vinified as a still, unoaked white, though the grape also lends itself to spumante and lightly frizzante styles, and a handful of producers age a riserva. Beyond Gavi it appears in Cortese dell'Alto Monferrato, Colli Tortonesi and Piemonte Cortese. Its natural home remains the hills of [Piedmont](/regions/piedmont), where it stands alongside aromatic whites like [Arneis](/grapes/arneis) and [Vermentino](/grapes/vermentino) as the region's understated, gastronomic counterpoint.