Skiing, White Truffles, and Gavi di Gavi
This issue was published on August 30, 2023.
Happy Wine Wednesday!
Today we’re heading to Piedmont to drink some Gavi di Gavi before talking to Mandy Martinez, the western region sales manager at Whitehall Lane Winery in Napa. I know we’ve been talking a lot about white wines in these past few issues, but…it’s summer! It’s the best time to explore a new white wine as you lounge by the pool.So pour yourself a glass and let’s get our wine nerd on!
Cortese & Gavi
Snowy Mountains and The Italian Riviera
Whos’ ready to go to Piedmont, Italy?
If you’ve had Barolo (known as Italy’s king of wine) or Barbaresco (the queen), you know how wonderful the wines from this esteemed wine region in northwest Italy can be. Located at the foot of the Alps and bordering France and Switzerland, Piedmont (which means foot of the mountain) is the second largest of Italy’s 20 regions after Sicily. Super mountainous and hilly, its capital, Turin, was host of the 2006 winter Olympics. In addition to wine, the region is known for great skiing in the winter and white truffles in the fall.
Here’s a quick background on Piedmont:
Many people compare the winemaking in Piedmont to Burgundy in France. Both regions have small vineyard estates that are painstakingly cared for, and focus on creating beautiful, single variety wines – pinot noir in Burgundy, and nebbiolo in Piedmont (the varietal in both Barolo and Barbaresco).
But as delicious and important as these red wines are, we’re focusing instead on the lesser known white wine: Gavi.
First, Gavi is actually the name of the village where Gavi is made – just like how Barolo and Barbaresco are named after the places they are made, and not the nebbiolo grape they are made from.The varietal in Gavi is called cortese, which is one you may not have heard of. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t!
There’s over 350 different grape varietals that The Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Italy has authorized, so that’s a lot of wine to keep track of. To put that in context, if I dedicated every single newsletter to one of those 350 varietals, it would take me over 6 and a half years to cover every single one! Wild.
Anyway. Cortese dates back to 1659 when it was first recorded as being planted in Montaldeo in southeast Piedmont. Even though it’s been noted as being quite hardy and is able to produce large crops with high yields, you’ll rarely ever see it outside Italy or even Piedmont. A lot of the cortese that you do find in other areas (like Australia’s Victoria region) are still pretty experimental, although there are some serious cortese wines in California. Definitely let me know if you’ve had some - I’d love to hear about it!
This white wine is very dry with a light body and beautiful, crisp acidity, and almost has a green tint that complements the very light straw color in your glass. With a medium body, you’ll get notes of lemon and it can feel and taste like biting into a crunchy red apple. You might also get some hints of honeydew, almond, or even herbal and grassy aromas.
Because cortese is grown in a cooler part of Italy (remember, the capital of Piedmont hosted the winter Olympics), the grape can sometimes struggle to fully ripen. This can result in an aggressively acidic wine, so some producers use malolactic fermentation and oak barrels to help smooth it out and add some body (you can catch up on your malo knowledge here).
Now back to Gavi.
The town of Gavi is in the southern part of Alessandria, a province in the southeast of Piedmont, near the Italian Riviera and Ligurian coast. It’s actually a warmer climate compared to most of the rest of Piedmont (which is why cortese can happily ripen here), and officially became a DOCG (a designated wine region of Italy) in 1998. During the 60s and 70s, wine experts considered Gavi to be the best dry white wine from Italy and it’s really what put Italian white wines on the map! (Yes, pinot grigio is also a popular Italian white wine, but it’s also kind of boring, so…)
If you’re a fan of Chablis or a dry riesling, you should definitely put Gavi on your list! Because all Gavi must be produced from cortese grapes within this DOCG, look out for the wines labeled Gavi di Gavi, or Gavi del comune di Gavi. Only about thirty producers around the small village of Gavi produce this wine, so it definitely isn’t something you’ll find readily in the wine aisle of a grocery store. There are other cortese wines made in Piedmont, so make sure to check the label to confirm that the wine is from the Gavi DOCG to get the “true” Gavi di Gavi experience!
As you might expect from a crisp, dry white wine produced near the ocean, this goes perfectly with seafood. In fact, many restaurants around the Italian Riviera serve it as a wine pairing with their local seafood!
Outside of Gavi, Piedmont has a “Cortese Marengo” wine, which is a sparkling or semi-sparkling cortese made from a larger area in southern Piedmont. In Veneto (where Venice is the capital), cortese is blended with trebbiano and garganega to make Bianco di Custoza, and Lombardy (to the east) uses cortese to make Oltrepó Pavese.
Since we’re already in Piedmont, I also want to mention the other white wines from the region which may be more well-known than cortese: Arneis, also dry but a bit fuller in body with pear and apricot notes, and moscato d’asti, the fruity, lightly sweet, fizzy, low alcohol white wine. As you might have guessed, Arneis is also a great partner for seafood! Moscato d’asti (which should be served in regular wine glasses, not flutes, even though it has some light bubbles) is traditionally drunk on Christmas morning in Piedmont.
As we wind down these final weeks of summer, grab a bottle of Gavi di Gavi and enjoy it with some Italian seafood! Or maybe you’ll throw some prawns on the grill to pair with your Gavi over Labor Day weekend. For my vegetarian friends, you can also try Gavi with an herbal, basil-based pasta with pine nuts.
Enjoy!
Mandy Martinez
Western Region Sales Manager at Whitehall Lane Winery
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Merobebe
You currently work as the sales manager but if you could have any other job in the wine industry, what would it be?
Mandy Martinez
I really love what I do so that’s tough, but I think I would aspire to be a winemaker. Science doesn’t land in my wheelhouse and since I do love a challenge, I think this would be something I would feel proud of if I accomplished it.
Merobebe
If you could visit any wine region in the world, where would you go?
Mandy Martinez
I am Gavi obsessed, so it would have to be Piedmont [in Italy] for me. I am also intrigued with Etna and volcanic soil, so that’s on the list as well.
Merobebe
What's your go-to bottle of wine when you want to treat yourself?
Mandy Martinez
Specifically, I love La Scolca and Villa Sparina as producers to support my affinity with Gavi. I always love some nice bubbles too.
Merobebe
What first interested you in pursuing a career in wine?
Mandy Martinez
I started my wine journey in hospitality working as a bartender in restaurants. At first, wine was something I was required to learn along with the menu, pairing, etc. I found that the more wine I had the opportunity to taste, the more my interest unfolded. I genuinely became captivated by all of the organic, moving parts of wine. It’s a living, breathing thing displaying its own identity. That’s really cool!
Digging in and translating wine became super enjoyable and interesting to me. I am forever grateful for those grueling hours I spent behind the bar. It’s not an easy job by any means, but it’s the place where I found my path.
Merobebe
You've worked in distribution and as a wine supplier before and now work as a sales manager for Whitehall Lane. Can you share some of the differences and similarities between the roles?
Mandy Martinez
Both have been extremely beneficial and enjoyable for me. Distribution taught me the ins and outs of big business and how to represent many brands. When you work in distribution, the key is being able to juggle and keep a lot of people happy. Honing in and finding people’s needs and really establishing how to work the sales cycle.
Now, working for a small, family-owned winery has allowed me to make the experience way more personal. I have fallen in love with Whitehall Lane and telling the story of one brand and family. Reaching the consumer on that level, where I feel more personally connected, has been exactly what I was seeking for my career.
Merobebe
What is a typical day (or week) like in your role?
Mandy Martinez
Since we are a small, family owned and operated company, I have been fortunate in having the opportunity of wearing a few hats and expanding my skill set. Daily, I get to work closely with our distributors selling to restaurants, privately owned bottle shops, larger chains and independent retail stores as well. In any given week, I can also be hosting wine dinners, tastings and selling events; it definitely keeps me busy! Whitehall Lane wines are exceptional quality, so that also makes my job very enjoyable.
Merobebe
What is special about Whitehall Lane?
Mandy Martinez
So many things! Whitehall Lane is located in the heart of Rutherford in Napa Valley. Originally established in 1979, the Leonardini family acquired the winery in 1993. This year we are celebrating 30 years of being family owned and operated, and producing world-class Napa Valley wines.Tom Sr., the patriarch of the family, has cultivated a remarkable family legacy with his children and now grandchildren as well. Roots run deep at Whitehall Lane and it’s a very special place.
Merobebe
How do you think being family-owned impacts the wine and the experience at Whitehall?
Mandy Martinez
It truly is a defining part of who we are. I am working directly with the family which makes it that much more of a personal commitment to the Leonardini’s and Whitehall Lane. You can feel it in the tasting room when one of them is there to pour for you. And I know that our winemaker, Jason Moulton, has a commitment to the family as well with the quality he puts into the bottle. I think we all feel a sense of responsibility to Tom Sr. especially, who is in his 80’s and still reporting to the winery. Commitment, integrity, quality, and longevity are all a part of the Whitehall Lane mission and it shows. I am so very proud to be a part of it.
Merobebe
As a woman in sales and in the male-dominated industry of wine, what challenges or inaccurate assumptions/stereotypes have you faced and how have you overcome them?
Mandy Martinez
As in any challenging situation, you find it in yourself to rise above, move past and carry on as a strong and confident female. I remain focused on my goals and seek the support of one of the owners of Whitehall Lane (who is female) and I Iean heavily on our National Sales Manager who is also female. Both are shining examples for me.
Daily, I try to look at how far we’ve come rather than how far we have to go. I am also very grateful for the incredibly smart and strong women I have had the pleasure of encountering in this industry. So many of them! We support each other and it’s a really beautiful thing to be a part of. Very empowering for sure.
Get a wine-related movie or book pairing for your weekend.
Today’s pairing is The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah.
This page-turning novel follows Kate as she returns to her family’s ancestral vineyard in Burgundy to prepare for her upcoming Master of Wine examination. While there, she uncovers a secret that her family has been keeping since World War II, finding a hidden room with a cot, Resistance pamphlets, and tons of valuable wine. What was her family hiding during the war, and why are some of the important bottles from the family’s cellar collection missing?
See the reviews and buy The Lost Vintage from a local bookstore here.
Enjoy your long weekend!
I won’t be in your inbox next week as I’ll be too busy soaking up some sun and drinking a chilled white or red wine over the long weekend, but I’ll be back the following Wednesday as usual.
Stay safe, cool, and hydrated!
Cheers,
Megumi