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For those who crave clarity, Cortese delivers. Best known from the hills around Gavi in southern Piedmont, this expressive white grape doesn’t rely on opulence or oak to make an impression. Instead, it leans into freshness and subtlety.

Cortese has been grown in the region for centuries, but its reputation was largely built on simplicity - clean, crisp, uncomplicated wines designed to be drunk young. That’s still part of its charm. But a growing number of producers are showing how much more it can offer. With lower yields and careful farming, Cortese reveals delicate layers: lemon pith, green almond, crushed stone, even a touch of white pepper. The acidity is vivid, but never lean or piercing. The finish, saline and just slightly savoury, lingers longer than you expect.

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Greco is Campania’s sharper, more angular white grape - less lush than Fiano, but no less compelling. It’s most famously expressed in Greco di Tufo, where the combination of volcanic soils and altitude gives the wines a salty, smoky tension that cuts right through richer food.

In the glass, Greco brings citrus peel, almond skin, and wet stone, with a structure that leans firmly dry and savoury. Acidity is brisk, sometimes even austere in youth, but it softens with time, letting the smoky, minerally depth come through. It’s not a wine that tries to charm immediately. It’s more of a slow burn - the kind of white that reveals its detail sip by sip, especially when paired with seafood, fried stuff, or anything with a bit of oily richness.

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Ribolla Gialla is native to the hills of Friuli, especially around Oslavia and the Collio and is a grape that thrives on patience - both in the vineyard and in the cellar. Historically overlooked in favour of more fashionable varieties, Ribolla has quietly become a cornerstone of Friuli’s identity, thanks in large part to the work of a few visionary producers in the 1990s who began to rethink what white wine could be. Instead of bottling it young and neutral, they started fermenting it on skins - sometimes for days, sometimes for months - unlocking a whole new register of texture, structure, and tone. In doing so, Ribolla became something of a flagbearer for Italy’s orange wine movement.

But even outside the amphora and long-maceration world, Ribolla holds its own. In its more classical form, it’s bright, citrus-edged, and minerally, with notes of lemon pith, yellow flowers, and green apple skin. The acidity is high, the alcohol modest, and the finish often marked by a gentle phenolic grip - making it brilliant with food and beautifully age-worthy in the right hands. Whether handled with oxidative daring or clean-lined restraint, Ribolla Gialla always carries a signature: a quiet firmness, a pulse of acidity, a sense of something just beneath the surface.

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Italy is home to an extraordinary wealth of native white grape varieties - many of which remain obscure outside their local regions but form the backbone of the country’s most distinctive and characterful white wines. These grapes are not international workhorses like Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. They’re deeply rooted in place, often grown only in a handful of valleys, hillsides, or even single villages. In this tasting we will cover some of the key players, along with what makes them special in their homelands.

FULL LINEUP:

Umani Ronchi Ca Sal di Serra 2022

Vignai da Duline Chioma Integrale 2023

Kaffefi Societa Agricola Tancanica 2023

Pietracupa Cupo 2020

Pietracupa Greco di Tufo 2016*

Pieropan La Rocca 2023

Cascina degli Ulivi Ivag 2021

Tenuta sant’Helena Caterina 2022

*WOTN

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Malvasia isn’t one grape - it’s a whole family, and a rather unruly one at that. Found from Portugal to Croatia, often in wildly different forms, it resists easy definition. But across the board, what links them is perfume and texture.

In Italy, Malvasia appears in both white and red versions, with dozens of local clones adapted to different regions and styles. Some are dry and mineral, others sweet and lush; some lightly sparkling, others skin-contact and wild. It’s this shape-shifting nature that makes Malvasia both exciting and misunderstood. At its most classic - in places like Friuli, Emilia-Romagna, or Lipari - it’s floral and fleshy, with notes of apricot, orange blossom, and bitter almond. There’s often a gentle oiliness to the texture, offset by freshness or gentle spritz. In the volcanic soils of the Aeolian Islands, Malvasia delle Lipari can yield stunning passito wines - amber-toned, salty-sweet, and hauntingly aromatic.

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There’s a certain kind of light along the Mediterranean coast - bright, mineral, slightly saline. That light is Vermentino, a grape that thrives near the sea, and it shows: brisk, aromatic, sometimes herbal, always bursting with energy. Native to Italy’s western coastline, Vermentino is most strongly associated with Sardinia, Liguria, and the Tuscan coast, though you’ll find it under other names in southern France and Corsica.

What defines it is citrus peel, wild fennel, pear skin, sea spray. When grown thoughtfully and harvested at the right moment, it walks the line between texture and tension - making it both versatile and unmistakably regional. In Gallura (Sardinia’s granite-soiled north), Vermentino takes on extra structure and salinity. In Liguria, it leans lighter and crisper, often under the name Pigato. And in Maremma, where breezes meet clay and sand, it tends toward softness and perfume. For drinkers looking beyond the usual Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino offers something familiar yet quietly distinctive: coastal, confident, and deeply rooted in where it grows.

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For a long time, Garganega was hiding in plain sight. Often blended and overlooked. But in the right hands - and in the right soils - it’s one of Italy’s most quietly compelling white grapes.

Best known as the backbone of Soave, Garganega thrives in the rolling hills of Veneto, especially where volcanic and limestone soils intersect. When yields are kept in check and ripeness is managed carefully, the grape reveals a striking balance of freshness and texture. Its hallmark is subtlety: almond skin, chamomile, preserved lemon, white peach. The structure is gently phenolic, sometimes even waxy, giving the wines a nice grip beneath their soft, open-knit fruit.

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Carricante is the quiet force of Etna. It isn't explosive like the volcano it grows on, but it carries the mountain’s imprint - salty, smoky, and bursting with energy. Grown mostly on the eastern slopes of Mount Etna, often at high altitude, Carricante thrives in volcanic soils and cool maritime breezes that lend it piercing acidity and a flinty, herbal edge.

Structurally, Carricante is all about tension. Expect lemon peel, green apple, wild fennel, and crushed rock. It rarely shows exuberant fruit. Some producers, like Benanti or Graci, bring a light touch of lees or old wood to add texture, but the grape’s soul is always linear and driven. Ageing potential is excellent. Young Carricante is taut and angular; with time, it deepens into something more waxy and smoky, with a saline finish that practically begs for raw seafood or hard cheeses.

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Fiano is one of Italy’s quiet heavyweights. Grown mostly in Campania, especially around Avellino, this white grape brings serious structure, fruit concentration, and excellent textural grip that food just loves. At its best, Fiano di Avellino shows layers of hazelnut, honey, chamomile, and ripe orchard fruit - often with a hint of smoke or flint. It’s doesn't make flashy wines, but it’s not shy either. It delivers weight without being fat, and age gives it waxy richness and even more savoury nuance.

Importantly, it holds acidity well, even in warm southern climates, which keeps it from ever tipping into flabbiness. That balance of power and freshness is what makes Fiano such a sleeper hit among Italy’s white grapes. You can crush it young with grilled prawns or come back to it in five years with aged cheese and roasted chicken. A glorious grape.

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Verdicchio is one of Italy’s most underrated white grapes, hiding in plain sight. Grown mostly in the Marche, especially around Castelli di Jesi and Matelica, it’s often bottled young and breezy - but the real stuff has substance.

At its best, Verdicchio smells like citrus zest, crushed almond, fennel. The palate is marked with green apple-like acidity, a firm, almost saline backbone, and that signature bitter almond finish that makes it a killer with food. It ages too. Give it a few years and it shows beeswax and dried herbs. Verdicchio is the grape you think you know - until it shows you it was playing the long game all along.

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The wild child of the Mediterranean. Also known as Muscat of Alexandria, it thrives on the sun-blasted island of Pantelleria, closer to Tunisia than to Sicily. Here, it grows in crater-like bush vines sunk into the volcanic soil, protected from the harsh winds.

It’s a grape with two personalities. Fresh, dry Zibibbo bursts with orange blossom, lemon peel, and a strong whiff of incense - think sun-drenched Aperitivo hour. But the passito version, made from dried grapes, is where it becomes unforgettable: golden, intense, laced with apricot jam, dates, saffron, and sea salt.