Gavi DOCG

In 1963, a young Fiorenzo Dogliani made the trip from Piedmont to Milan to pitch his family's homemade wines, handwritten labels and all, to local restaurateurs. The wines caught on fast, and by 1978 the family had grown their holdings enough to purchase the historic Kiola estate and the Batasiolo Hills in La Morra, adding two estates to the seven they already farmed. Fiorenzo named the resulting venture Beni di Batasiolo, after the central vineyard where the winery and cellar still stand. Today the Dogliani family, five generations deep in Piedmont's Langhe district, farms more than 320 acres across nine estates. Their reach extends beyond Barolo country and into Gavi, in the province of Alessandria near the Ligurian border, where Cortese has grown since the 1600s. Cooled by breezes off the Mediterranean, this corner of Piedmont produces a very different wine from the family's Nebbiolo: fresh, floral, and built for the table.

Gavi sits in the extreme southeastern corner of Piedmont, in the province of Alessandria near the Ligurian border, just 30 kilometers from the sea. Cortese has grown here since the 1600s, thriving in soils of limestone, clay, and marl. Sea breezes off the Mediterranean moderate the summer heat, preserving the grape's natural acidity and giving Gavi its characteristic freshness and minerality.

Cortese grapes grown in limestone, clay, and marl soils are destemmed and soft pressed. The juice is then fermented in stainless steel vats at 16-18°C (60.8-64.4°F), with time spent on the lees to build texture and aromatic complexity.

Pale straw yellow with green tinges. Fresh and floral on the nose, with good intensity and persistence. Dry and pleasant on the palate, with lingering almond notes typical of Cortese.