Vermentino Wine Guide
Vermentino is a great Italian white wine that never fails to impress. For fish dishes, there are excellent simple and very salty versions like the ocean, but there are also more complex and structured versions that boast freshness and terrifying minerality.
Vermentino is the wine of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Everything about it brings to mind this beautiful sea and its rocky shores: salt, the breeze, the Mediterranean scrub, and the smell of citrus fruits. a vine that has taken root in its Bermuda triangle, which includes Sardinia, Liguria, and Northern Tuscany.
Organoleptic characteristics of Vermentino: the perfumes
Vermentino has many faces but only one identity. It is easy to spot because it has a very strong, but not yet fragrant, bouquet of citrus fruits, white flowers, fragrant herbs like thyme and basil, and yellow fruit that is not quite ripe. But above all, you will find the call of the sea inside this noble white wine.
What does Vermentino wine taste like?
On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, very fresh, and has a structure that is not too heavy or too fat. Rather, it is a structure that always comes from great flavor and not so much from alcohol, which is quite contained.
The rhythm is fine; it moves with elegance and grace.
And you won’t find many super-strong or sloppy wines because if Vermentino is over-matured, it becomes redundant and flabby while everyone else tries to produce sharp and agile wines.
Production areas of Vermentino wine
For once, the DOCs really make a difference, and the specifications are very strict and can guarantee good quality. In Liguria, Vermentino is at home almost everywhere, even if it is in the wild Colli di Luni, under La Spezia, near the border with Tuscany, where it finds a fabulous microclimate, rocky soils, and lots of love. Here, Vermentino is left to mature a little more, just enough to gain thickness and the golden color that hypnotizes.
A little further south, in Tuscany, we find the DOC Candia Colli Apuani, where Vermentino is made with more lightness and ease, always elegant but less structured. excellent for appetizers and fried shellfish.
Vermentino di Gallura DOCG
And then we have the DOCG Vermentino di Gallura, one of the best Italian white wines.
Vermentino is from Sardinia, but it has found its paradise at the northernmost tip of the island.
It is an inhospitable land; there are no other crops apart from the vineyards; the Mistral whips the coast with ferocity; the soil is very poor, made of granite; only the vineyards can survive.
And the fruits of these vineyards are full of salt that gives the wine superb finesse, unimaginable persistence, and crazy flavor, but also a lot of body.
It is clear that with these extreme conditions, the vineyards produce little but very well: on average, no more than 3 kg per vine. Imagine the concentration of flavors.
It must be made with at least 95% Vermentino, and many winemakers are experimenting with aging the wine in wood to shape and soften the salty taste and heavy body of the wine.
If you have never tasted it, Vermentino di Capichera is a true work of art.
History of Vermentino
The origin of this noble grape variety is still debated, but we can also find it in Spain, France, and Corsica, where it is the most cultivated grape variety.
Perhaps it was born in Spain and then traveled through France to Liguria and Sardinia, or perhaps he did the opposite. It is a story yet to be written.
Others think it came with the Arabs during the conquest of Spain, but what we really care about is where it took root and where it thrives. Drink Vermentino and you will be happier; it is a sunny wine!
Vermentino food pairings
The lighter ones pair well with steamed fish, rice and peas, and pasta with pesto, but with the beautiful salty and sharp ones, you can dare and combine strong dishes, white meats, salmon, and fatty fish. Recommended dishes: parmigiana ravioli, spaghetti with clams, chicken tikka masala, Chicken Cacciatore, Vitello Tonnato, truffle risotto, pasta alla carbonara, tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms.