The Cortese Grape

Cortese is a centuries-old white-wine grape originating in the province of Alessandria in the Piedmont region of Italy, which remains today (with nearby Asti) the home of this perhaps over-popular grape variety, best known as the informing grape of Gavi (and Cortest di Gavi) wines.

We say “perhaps over-popular” because the wines are by and large quite neutral, their chief (or only) redeeming virtue being a sharp acidity, a quality scarcely unique to this grape. Such specimens considered particularly above average will also have some mild aromas and some mild mineral and citrus overtones (also qualities scarcely unique). But, for reasons best known to marketers, Gavi wines are quite popular.

Factoid: Contrary to the silly legends, Gavi is not named after some princess, but rather comes from the Italian word for “cave”.

Some Descriptions of Cortese Wines

Wikipedia
“Wines made from Cortese (particularly those from the DOCG Gavi) have long been favored by restaurants in the southern neighboring port of Genoa as a wine pairing with the local seafood caught off the Ligurian coast. The wine’s moderate acidity and light, crisp flavors pair well with the delicate flavors of some fish. Cortese wines tend to be medium bodied with notes of limes and greengage. In vintages that are particularly cool, the wines can be aggressively acidic and lean but winemaking techniques such as malolactic fermentation and oak barrel fermentation can temper that.”
Wine Searcher
“The variety is known for its bracingly high acidity and its ability to retain freshness, even when grown in hot environments. Apple, peach and honeydew flavors are commonly associated with Cortese wine, with lime, almond and light herbal or grassy aromas…it is a vigorous, productive vine and if yields are not kept in check then the wines can be bland and lacking in character. Ripeness is another key issue—while it does well in Gavi’s warm environs, it can struggle to ripen fully in other parts of Piedmont. This leads to wines with almost unmanageably high acidity, which is why Cortese is used more often as a minor blending grape outside of its home town. Some producers use malolactic fermentation to mitigate the variety’s high acidity, but it is usually produced in a crisp, dry style.”
World’s Best Wines
“The vine of Cortese is a productive as well as vigorous vine. Thus, if the fields are not checked and maintained properly, the yielding of this white wine grape will meet a dead end. The wines produced out of these unmaintained vines could taste bland and could lack to entertain all its characters.…The acidity of the wines prepared out of Cortese is light and therefore it is admired by a number of wine-lovers. The Cortese wines are mainly medium that are bodied with the notes of greengage as well as limes. The winemaking techniques such as oak barrel fermentation as well as malolactic fermentation are used to prepare a variety of wines from the Cortese grape.”
Fix
“Once the darling of the Italian white wine world, Cortese got too popular in the 1980s, when it was over-yielded and used to make pretty boring wines…The best wines made from Cortese (look for the designations Gavi di Gavi, and Gavi di Tassarolo)…often have refreshing acidity, with flavors of apples, honeydew melons, and peaches. The best can also offer complex aromas of wet stones, grass, and even white flowers.”
Courtney Schiessl, Vine Pair
“Winemakers must manage yields and plant the grape in areas where it can ripen properly to avoid producing a simple, neutral white wine with piercing acidity. Cortese can range from light and refreshing to rich and layered, making it a grape with lots of potential.”
Jancis Robinson
“Crisp and, with luck, fruity.”
Fringe Wine
“Gavi’s reputation among critics rarely seems to match the prices that most wines from there tend to command. In his Barolo to Valpolicella, Nicolas Belfrage notes that Gavi’s reputation for producing one of the finest whites in Italy is ‘not fully justified, according to some.’ He goes on to say ‘that it has been one of the most hyped is beyond dispute, and when it’s good—full enough of body to match the acidity, with a twist of lime cordial on the nose and finish—it can, in the right context, be just the thing,’ which is an absolute clinic in damning with faint praise. The Oxford Companion to Wine’s entry on Cortese says that ‘at its best, the wine is clean and fresh,’ and, generally, that ‘the use of oak is usually misguided.’ In their entry on Gavi they say that ‘with care in the vineyard and cellars, the delicate flavours of the Cortese grape, retained thanks to the moderating maritime influence due to its proximity to the Ligurian coast less than 70 km/40 miles way, can yield pleasurable wines that are easy to drink,’ which, again, is hardly a ringing endorsement.”
Wine Paradigm
“[I]ts main characteristic is the retention of high levels of acidity, even in the hottest of years. This gives the wines great refreshing, as well as food pairing, qualities and is the reason it became so popular in restaurants along the Ligurian coast, just south of Piedmont. However, in cool years it can be intensely sharp with low sugar levels and may require barrel fermentation, malolactic fermentation, or even the addition of a small amount of sweet grape must to keep the wine in balance (grape must is the juice of freshly crushed grapes, which includes fragments of pulp, seeds, pips and stalks). Cortese can also be quite prolific, so restricted yields are necessary to concentrate the fruit and body of the wine, which also helps keep the acidity in check. Generally, the wines are light to medium bodied with high acidity, but the better wines tend to be more full bodied with a richer texture, whilst still remaining vivid and refreshing. Occasionally, a producer will undertake fermentation on the lees, giving the wine extra texture, so much so that it can almost become Rich in style. As demand for Gavi has increased, many wineries have taken advantage by producing large quantities of thin, sharp wine, which is refreshing at best. Nonetheless, the better producers make deliciously refreshing wines with great character and flavor. You can expect delicate aromas of citrus fruits and roasted almond, followed by flavors of lemon, grapefruit, green apple, melon, pear and white peach, with a mineral edge and occasionally a creamy and nutty texture. Most should be drunk while young and fresh, but better quality wines need two or three years to reach their best. Because of its reputation and location within Piedmont, many Gavi wines command high prices, but only rarely are they complex wines of exceptional quality.”

Some Corteses to Try

For a Splurge

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This page was last modified on Saturday, 30 October 2021, at 11:26 pm Pacific Time.

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