White wines and native grapes

Italians have every reason to be proud of their white wines and should sing the praises of many of the great ones. Which wines? We’ll let you be the judge.

Were I to ask my friend Luciano Lombardi, AKA Vignamar, which is the best native Italian white varietal, and thus the best Italian white wine, his answer would invariably be: “There is only Verdicchio”.

While there are, of course, many reasons to justify his opinion and, even if he would disagree, the same goes for some other Italian varietals, like Fiano, Greco di Tufo, Catarratto, Vermentino, Garganega, Timorasso, Carricante, Grillo and, even if it is not by definition native, Friulano.

What we propose is not a game but an implicit invitation for you to tell us which are your favorite Italian whites, perhaps even explaining why, because I think it is important for us to declare a kind of “white pride” for Italian wines. This is because Italian white wines are too often underrated by international wine critics in a frankly unfair and totally undeserved way.

Italy is not just a land of great reds and it would be a good thing if we remember and emphasize this.

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