WHERE PIEDMONT LOOKS AT THE SEA
Our Top 10 guide to Gavi and its environs
The name Gavi is a favourite on any wine list. One of Piedmont’s most popular exports, it is named after a little-known territory in the southern part of the region, close to the Ligurian border. On clear days, the towering peak of Monviso can be seen on the horizon to the north. Yet this land of vineyards and gentle hills is a long way from the Alps – as it is from the Savoyard splendour of Turin.
This corner of Piedmont, significantly nicknamed Piemontemare, looks out to sea. The Italian Riviera is only 30km away, and when the wind blows from the south you can smell the sea in the air. This is a land of transition – and it has always been. The via Francigena, the historic road from northern Europe to the Eternal City, passes through its territory – as does the via del Sale, the ancient route that twists and turns from the Alps all the way to the coast.
Produced entirely with Cortese grapes, Gavi wine is a result of this area’s peculiarity: a white wine in a region famous for its reds – an apparently eccentric choice that has its historical explanation in the influence that the Republic of Genoa had on this territory. The city’s aristocrats were mainly on a fish and vegetable diet, and a fresh white
