Each Saturday, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects a delicious, top-value 'Everyday Italian Wine’ for you to try at home – or enjoy on your Abruzzo vacation !

Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Conti Serristori. 2006
It's appropriate that the first white wine featured here is perhaps Italy's best-known and – dating back to the 13th century – certainly one of the oldest. San Gimignano is a Tuscan hilltop town north-west of Siena that suffers from being known as a 'mediaeval Manhattan' – a reference to town's many towers built by local warring factions in the Middle Ages.

The reputation comes at a price. San Gimignano's carparks take up more space than the old town itself and a summer visit is an unequal battle against heat and backpackers. Spring and autumn are an infinitely more civilised bet. For wine lovers, this is Chianti country – but the vineyards you'll see on every hill surrounding San Gimignano aren't growing the red Sangiovese grapes – but the white Vernaccia.  

As with San Gimignano itself, the local Vernaccia also suffered from an inflated reputation after gaining a wider audience in the 1960s, when it was the first Italian wine to be awarded DOC status – the equivalent of the French 'appellation controllee'. As so often happens, popularity had its price and resulting over-production led to a drop in standards.

But the good news is that the decline's been appreciably reversed over the last 15 years or so, starting with Vernaccia di San Gimignano's promotion to DOCG status – a kind of 'alpha-plus DOC'. Quality controls have tightened; producers have got their act together; and wine drinkers have had a chance to appreciate what all the fuss was about in the first place.

Don't confuse Vernaccia di San Gimignano with others (nb the Sardinian Vernaccia di Oristano) of the same name. Same grape. Very different wine. This is a light straw colour; a delicate bouquet of hay and chamomile; and a light, zippy taste, with hints of white peach and apricot, (but not as in-your-face as with a Viognier),  ending with a slight not-in-the-least-unpleasant bitterness that's a refreshing trademark of this particular grape variety.

This Vernaccia di San Gimignano is produced by Conti Serristori – a name you might  more usually associate with very fine Chianti. At €4.17, it's well-priced for a DOCG wine. Well-made too and packing a fairly weighty 13%. Antipasti, white meat and fish are all fairly obvious accompaniments,  but my personal favourite is to team-up Vernaccia di San Gimignano with a risotto of baby spring vegetables – or serve those same tiny veggies along with farfalle pasta in a light cream sauce: that slight Vernaccia bitterness I mentioned providing a good counter-point to the richness. A quick and easy meal to whip-up on your Abruzzo vacation. (And see this for more about our Abruzzo villas for two !)

At A Glance…

• This week's featured wine: Vernaccia di San Gimignano
• Vintage: 2006
• Producer: Conti Serristori
• Designation: DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita – Italy's top grade. Each bottle is individually numbered)
• Grape: 100% Vernaccia
• Strength: 13% vol
• Closure: Cork
• This bottle cost: €4.17

Conti Serristori
Based just outside Florence since the 15th century, there's no getting away from the fact that Conti Serristori are big producers. But stifle that inherent wine-buff snobbery that equates 'big' with 'bad'. The wine world can't survive on only boutique wineries with tiny production runs. Under the Conti Serristori umbrella you'll find – in addition to the reviewed Vernaccia di San Gimignano – a highly-drinkable Orvieto, an everyday range of Chianti, the excellent 'Fontanelle' brand of olive oil, a very fine Tuscan Vinsanto – and the jewel in the crown, the terrific 'Fattoria Niccolo Machiavelli' Chianti Classico Riserva. If you want to brush-up your Italian and find out more about Conti Serristori wines – and the larger Gruppo Italiani Vini – take a look here.

If you like Italian wine, why not check out last week's 'Everyday Italian Wine' – and bookmark this site for future weekly posts ! 

(Click on pictures in text for larger images) 

Next week: Primitivo di Manduria – a spicy, powerful red from Puglia in the 'heel' of Italy for you to try at home – or in your Abruzzo villa !

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 6:36 am and is filed under David's 'Everyday Italian Wine', Eating and Drinking, Vineyards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.