La Zerba Gavi DOCG Comune di Tassarolo BIO, 2017

Gavi wine, made with a refreshing and citrus-scented Cortese grape, is a much respected and enjoyed white from Piedmont – where reds rule – but it’s not really famous for its ability to age. Mildly aromatic and usually made in unoaked style, it is typically enjoyed within a couple of years of the vintage, and there are very few mature examples around to prove otherwise. However, here is our chance to see what a well-made wine is capable of. Seven years on, we have an opportunity to see for ourselves what happens to a good Gavi as it ages – at its producer’s facilities no less, rather than an intriguing but chancy item on a wine list, or a dusty bin-end bottle. It is certainly a rare occasion, and even at this age the wine needs no excuses. To make it a further interesting proposition: there also is a current vintage of the same wine in the catalogue (Lot 5206, page 26) to not only provide you with the goal posts of starting and destination points but to also offer a preview into the development of the young wine, should someone be inclined to lay it down in their cellar. This is a Gavi with several years of bottle ageing, not often seen on a market, a special offer from the winery. It shows a light lemon-yellow appearance and medium-intensity, mature and complex aromatic profile with dried marigolds and camomile, dried starfruit and yellow plum, pickled lemon, goldenrod pollen and honey; then, lemon oil and wax with air. The palate is dry with medium acidity, medium extract, a soft texture, medium body and lovely length and intensity of dried flowers and fruit-flavour spectrum: yellow plum, yellow apple, starfruit, pickled lemon and honey, closing with a medium finish. 2025-2026–IR