Grape blend: 100% Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Aged: 12 months in Tonneaux
Alcohol content: 13% vol
Acidity: 5.5 g/l
Residual sugars: 1.3 g/l
Vernaccia is a full-bodied, fresh, velvety wine, and this one from La Vialla can also boast the title of “Riserva” because it’s aged at length in wood. Its vines are cultivated roughly 25 km from San Gimignano, in the Castelvecchio Nature Reserve, at 400 metres a.s.l., where they benefit from a climate that is well ventilated and cool at night. The 2021 season, characterised by a summer of intense heat, in part mitigated by the woodlands surrounding the vineyard, gave us extremely ripe grapes. They were selected carefully and pressed freshly-picked, directly in the vineyard. The Vernaccia was aged in 500 litre tonneaux barrels (a third of which new), creating the best combination between the structure of the wine itself and that given by the tannin of the wood.
Tasting – Colour: a lovely golden yellow with greenish nuances. The nose: white-fleshed fruit (apple and pear), joined by vanilla from the wood and, typical, unroasted almond in the finish. In the mouth: ample, all the sensations perceived by the nose come through in the aftertaste; the alcohol is never disturbing, balanced by long persistence.
Wine and Food Pairing – It’s perfect with typical seafood dishes such as sea bass “all’acqua pazza”, grilled gilt head bream or steamed shellfish, with pasta dishes from both sea and land, spaghetti “allo scoglio”, linguine with basil pesto, oven-baked pasta with asparagus and pecorino. It also goes well with meat dishes such as rabbit with olives and wild fennel.
Awards – Grand Gold Medal for the 2020 vintage at the Frankfurt International Trophy 2023, Frankfurt, Germany – Gold Medal for the 2020 vintage at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2023, 2023, Porec, Croatia.