Cortese
Piedmont, Italy
Piedmont's crisp white grape, the sole variety in Gavi, making dry, citrusy wines with a mineral, faintly saline finish.
Sensory profile
Characteristics
Flavor & aroma
At a glance
Production facts
Prevalence
Niche
Climate
Moderate climate
Ripening
Mid season
Wine styles
Still
Where it's grown
Geography
Shaded areas are the state, province or département(s) containing each region, so they run wider than the appellations themselves.
Italy
Piedmont (Gavi)
The only grape of Gavi, giving crisp, mineral dry white from marly hillsides close to the Ligurian coast.
Background
Origin & History
Cortese has been grown for a long time in the hills of south-eastern Piedmont, around Alessandria, and it is the grape of Gavi, the small town near the Ligurian border. For most of its history it was a local wine, drunk young; in the second half of the 20th century Gavi became one of Italy's most fashionable whites, and it was recognised as a DOC in the 1970s and upgraded to DOCG in 1998.
The grape is naturally high in acidity and modest in aroma, which is why site and winemaking count for so much: a young, cool-fermented Gavi is lemony and clean, while wines from better hillsides, or with some time on their lees, can gain texture and age for several years. Cortese is also grown in other parts of Piedmont and in the Veneto, where it is part of the Bianco di Custoza blend.
Lineage
Family tree
Parentage not recorded — Cortese is an old variety of unknown origin.
No crossings involving Cortese are documented in the collection yet.