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Campochiarenti
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Tuscany · DOCG
Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG Tuscany's Crisp White and Italy's First DOC, Explained
Vernaccia di San Gimignano is the crisp white of Tuscany's tower town, and the first wine in Italy to be granted a DOC, in 1966. Made from at least 85% Vernaccia on the yellow sand hills around one town, it is dry, lemony and finishes on bitter almond. The Riserva version adds time and a little oak.
18
Wines live now
£10-£38
Price range today
8
UK retailers
Decode the label
What the label tells you
One word on the front changes the ageing, the strength and the price.
On the label
Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG
the crisp base wine
85% or more Vernaccia di San Gimignano
11.5% minimum alcohol
Steel-made, lemon and almond, drunk within three years. The white of the piazza, at its best from a serious estate.
In stock from £11 See the 14 bottles ↓On the label
Riserva
a rest, a little oak, five years
11 months from 1 January, plus 3 in bottle
12.5% minimum alcohol
Broom, jasmine and honey over the same bitter-almond finish. One of the few Italian whites with a legal Riserva tier.
In stock from £15.50 See the 4 bottles ↓The boundary
Where it is
Everything on this page, the estates, the bottles, the sub-zones, sits inside this line.
Estate 2
Tenuta Torciano
Visit →Ulignano
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG zone
Estates you can visit
The zone is one municipality: the hills that ring San Gimignano's towers, between Siena and Florence. Vineyards may stand anywhere on those hills below 500 metres. The best face south and west on the yellow sand that gives the wine its stony edge. There are no sub-zones. Estate and vineyard names on the label do the work instead.
Inside the zone
1
Municipality
510 ha
Under vine
500 m
Vineyard ceiling
1966
Italy's first DOC
Click or tap a pin for its estate. The numbered pins match the estate cards below.
Towns worth knowing
San Gimignano
The whole zone lies inside the municipality of San Gimignano. The estates are spread across its hamlets, from Cusona and Pancole to Ulignano and Santa Margherita.
In the glass
What it tastes like
Almond
Lemon
Chamomile
Green Apple
Wet stones
Jasmine
The disciplinare
The rules that define it
The same table on every denomination page, straight from the production rules.
Grape & its role
Share of the blend
050100%
Vernaccia di San Gimignano and Riserva
Vernaccia di San GimignanoThe grape, and the whole pointat least 85%Other non-aromatic whitesSauvignon and Riesling capped at 10% togetherup to 15%Solid means the rules demand it. Striped means optional, up to that amount. The words on the right say the same rule.
Yields are capped at 9 tonnes per hectare and 3 kg per vine, low for a white this affordable.
Aromatic grapes are banned from the blend so the wine tastes of Vernaccia, not of Moscato or Traminer.
Made, aged and bottled inside the zone with a DOCG tasting panel before release.
Ageing and alcohol minimums per tier are in the label guide above.
Editor's cellar
Bottles to try, and what Vernaccia di San Gimignano costs in the UK
Every live Vernaccia di San Gimignano listing, cheapest to dearest
18 wines · 8 retailers
Live prices, compared across 8 UK retailers.
Cellar doors · inside the zone
Estates you can visit
Two estates inside the zone open their doors today. A small list, honestly kept: only working cellars with confirmed visits appear here.
Only show
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Experiences in the Vernaccia di San Gimignano zone
Cellar experiences here average around €22. These are the strongest fits for this page.
Tasting
Wine tasting experience at Campochiarenti Winery close to Siena
Campochiarenti
50 hectares of winery around Siena & close to San Gimignano in the heart of Tuscany. Welcome to the perfect italian wine tasting experience
2 h From €22 pp
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Winedering
Vintage provenance
Why there is no vintage chart
No denomination-wide vintage chart is currently published for Vernaccia di San Gimignano. The consortium describes the wine rather than rating the years, and quality is tracked producer by producer. The base wine is made to drink within three years in any case.
Buy the newest base wine; give a Riserva two or three years.
What to check instead
The producer: quality here is tracked estate by estate rather than year by year.
How Vernaccia di San Gimignano is made
The rules are short. Every grape must come from the hills inside the municipality of San Gimignano, in the province of Siena, below 500 metres. The soil is the yellow sand and sandy clay the town sits on. At least 85% must be Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Other non-aromatic white grapes may fill the rest, with Sauvignon and Riesling capped at 10% between them. Aromatic grapes such as Moscato and Traminer are banned outright. Yields are capped at 9 tonnes a hectare. The base wine has no minimum ageing and is usually made in steel. It reaches the shelf in the spring after the harvest at 11.5% or more. The Riserva must reach 12.5%. It rests at least 11 months from the 1st of January after the harvest, then three more months in bottle. Wood is allowed at every stage but never required. Every bottle must be made, aged and bottled inside the zone. As a DOCG, each lot passes a tasting panel before release.
In depth
The town of San Gimignano was taxing Vernaccia in 1276. Dante put it in the Purgatorio. Boccaccio and Cecco Angiolieri drank it. For six centuries it was the white wine that travellers to Tuscany knew by name. By the early 1900s growers had replaced most of it with Trebbiano and Malvasia, which crop more heavily. The revival came in the 1960s. On 3 March 1966 Vernaccia di San Gimignano became the first Italian wine with a DOC. It was raised to DOCG on 9 July 1993.
The place explains the taste. The hills around the town are old sea floor: yellow sand, called tufo locally, over grey and yellow clay. The land runs from roughly 70 to 630 metres, and the vineyards stay below 500. Sand drains fast and stays poor, so the vine gives small crops of grapes with real acidity. The wine is straw yellow with green or gold lights. Lemon and green apple lead the nose, then a stony middle and the bitter-almond finish that marks the grape. About 510 hectares are planted, and every one is inside the municipality.
Two styles sit under the label. The base wine is made in steel and drunk within three years. It is the bottle at £10 to £17 from Castellani, Casalino, Bertesca and the big Geografico co-operative. The Riserva is a different ambition. Estates such as Panizzi, Tollena and Guicciardini Strozzi at Cusona rest it on its yeast and in oak. The result is a rounder white of broom, jasmine and honey that keeps five years or more. Between them sit the single-vineyard bottles, Panizzi's Santa Margherita among them. They argue the grape belongs with Italy's serious whites rather than with the tourist carafes of the piazza.
On the table
What to eat with Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Fried fish, seafood pasta and Tuscan bread soups; the almond finish likes salt and the acidity cuts oil.
In-depth guide
Vernaccia di San Gimignano, answered
Dry and crisp: lemon, green apple and chamomile, a stony middle and a bitter-almond finish. The base wine is light to medium-bodied and made without oak. The Riserva is rounder, with broom, jasmine and honey from a rest on its yeast and a little wood.
Yes. It was granted the first DOC in Italy on 3 March 1966 and became a DOCG on 9 July 1993. The town's own records show the wine being taxed in 1276.
At least 85% Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Other non-aromatic white grapes can make up the rest, with Sauvignon and Riesling capped at 10% between them. Aromatic grapes such as Moscato, Traminer and Malvasia di Candia are not allowed.
The Riserva must reach 12.5% alcohol instead of 11.5%, rest at least 11 months from the January after the harvest and spend three more months in bottle. Most Riservas also see some oak, so they are rounder and keep longer.
The base wine is best within three years of the vintage. Riserva and single-vineyard bottles keep five years or more and gain honey and nut notes. Serve the young wine at 8 to 10C and a Riserva at 10 to 12C.
Fried fish and seafood, pappa al pomodoro, a risotto with San Gimignano saffron, rabbit cooked in the wine itself, and simple roast chicken for a Riserva. The acidity handles oil and batter; the almond finish likes salt.
Explore more Tuscany
Same region only: the denominations Vernaccia di San Gimignano drinkers reach for next.
Multiple varieties permitted
