Gavi has prominent minerals, good structure

My experience with Gavi, a Piedmont wine made with the little-seen cortese grape, has lacked the sensuality and mouth feel of this most honorable effort.

But the 2010 Cantine San Silvestro Gavi “Fossili” is different. This Gavi goes through malolactic fermentation, a process in which the malic acid – the apple kind – is converted to lactic acid – the acid of dairy products. The wine is then aged in stainless steel for six months. Certainly a medium-bodied wine, this fresh white flaunts aromas of citrus fruit with floral undertones.

An apricot nuance offers a spicy hint of unripe peach. It shows prominent minerals and an atypically long finish with balance and good structure, making it a really quenching white. It can be enjoyed with salad, sushi, grilled fish, pasta and wild fowl, but also can stand up to more assertive flavors, such as blue cheeses.

Roger Gentile is the owner of Gentile’s, the Wine Sellers – www.gentiles.com – and the author of two books on wine.