La Battistina Gavi 2007 - Wine Notes

Friday, January 22nd, 2010 | Food Pairings, Wine Tasting Notes

Tonight - something different. GAVI.

I’m venturing out. I NEVER hit up the Italian section at the store because much to my dismay, I’m kind of clueless in that area. My love is Spain, but I like to live on the edge, so random Italian wine it is!

I had a list of ‘menu items’ lined up for my dinner, but what white to drink? I made some tapas and wanted something crisp, fun, citrusy and clean. My first choice was going to be a white from Umbria, as I’ve tasted quite a few of those these days and they seem like a nice food-pairing wine. To no avail, my local W&L mart (wine & liquor…) did not carry such a thing. So, GAVI. And, on a gracious suggestion by a good friend who knows his Italian whites, I ended up with la Battistina’s Gavi 2007.

First smell was one of crisp, citrus fruit, like lemon and some pineapple, leading into a little green apple. The taste is crisp, clean, good rounded acidity and a continuation of the aromas. But this little number only gets better with FOOD! (I mean, if you think about it, what do the Italians like to do? MANGIA!)

I made a little roasted garlic bulb, some gambas al ajillo (shrimp in garlic sauce) and used a little of the Gavi for the sauce on that one, good life choice by me! I also roasted some asparagus spears topped with some black truffle butter and shaved pecorino romano, and had a warm pulpo potato salad on the side. All-in-all everyone was a winner. The wine holds up GREAT to the shellfish / octopus, and the asparagus brought out some clean green grass on the wine. Everything else just rounded out the finish!

As I asked myself, what is Gavi?

It’s from the Piedmont region in Italy that uses mainly the grape varietal, Cortese. According to my awesome De Long’s Wine Grape Varietal Table (because I’m an avid wine geek), the Cortese grape is listed as such: “refreshing, melons, grapey, extremely ancient variety” and it sits in the moderate-to-high acidity rating with a light yellow straw color.

My seemingly first experience went well! These are supposedly the most expensive Italian white wines shipped to the U.S., but I still paid under $20 for the bottle! Bottoms up, my friends!

Cheers.

Kronick Wino

Tags: gavi 2007 wine, gavi food pairing, gavi tasting notes, Gavi wine, italian white wine, italian wine under $20, la battistina docg, la Battistina gavi

3 Comments to La Battistina Gavi 2007 - Wine Notes

Bill
January 28, 2010

What a delicious looking meal. The wine sounds great, but I never think of white this time of year.

Lorenzo
March 12, 2010

The world of Gavi is wonderful. By blind chance you picked up a great example of the Peidmontese Princess. La Battistina is a mid-level example and one of my favorites. Gavi is also one of those few Italian wines that you could spend a few bucks on and really be surprised at(look for the Gavi’s in the funny looking bottles…you’ll know it when you see it). To enhance the flavor I recommend enjoying a bottle in the spring on a deck with friends…it does make a difference

admin
March 14, 2010

Lorenzo, thanks for the comment. I had never tried too many Gavi’s in the past and in all honesty, I am diving into Italian wines more and more and nothing has disappointed me yet. (I know there are ‘bad’ eggs out there.) However, the craft is definitely refined out of that part of the world.

What are some of your favorite Italian wines?

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Kronick Wino

Taster ~ Foodie ~ Writer ~ Reviewer