CASTELLARI BERGAGLIO

Piedmont, Italy

Founded in 1890, Castellari Bergaglio is a family-run winery that Gambero Rosso hails as “one of the appellation’s principal reference points”. Fourth generation Marco Castellari Bergaglio best describes the family philosophy: “We wish to craft wines that reflect terroir, not stereotype. Historically and contrary to most of Piedmont, ours is an area for white wines. Our aim is to see the Gavi appellation grow in quality and recognition and we have deliberately chosen not to spread out the range into reds, so as to maintain loyalty to territorial identity.”

Current Releases

2020 Gavi di Tassarolo DOCG ‘Fornaci’ (Cortese)

Province of Alessandria
Established: 1890
Owners: Castellari Bergaglio family
Winemaker: Roberto Gerbino
Production: 70,000 bottles
Hectares under vine: 12
Viticulture: Conventional

Gavi, like Soave, is a wine that takes its name from the region’s main village. The village, Gavi, is in southern Piedmont, bordering Liguria, and the wine is made from the Cortese grape. Although Cortese is grown all over the northwest, it was first recorded as a Piedmontese variety in 1659 and has long been favoured by the neighbouring port of Genoa to accompany the region’s locally caught seafood.

Gavi di Tassarolo Fornaci is a single vineyard wine named after a brick kiln – fornace in Italian – that used to stand in place of the vineyards, within the township of Tassarolo. Cortese grapes are soft pressed and fermented at a low temperature so as to maintain the classic, delicate floral and fruity bouquet of citrus, peach and green apple. The palate is dry and refreshing with a hint of bitter almond and can cellar well, developing toasty honeyed notes. A versatile dry white that is particularly well suited to seafood.