The Top 10 Italian White Wines According to Me

This may be the most bizarre top 10 list I’ve ever done because I really am not generally a fan of Italian white wines.  I’ve already written a blog post about why but, in short, I find them generally fruity, overly floral and insufficiently mineral to satisfy my admittedly geeky palate.  Having said that, I’ve come across enough Italian whites that I like to (barely) fill up a top 10 list. 

I will admit that I have not boiled the ocean here.  Italy has over 20 regions and each little village

seemingly has their own variety of some grape that has been around since Roman times.  I have tried hundreds of Italian whites but to claim a complete knowledge would require thousands of wines and would be the project of a lifetime.  So this list is definitely according to me based on what I’ve tasted.  Having said that, I have been to a good number of top Italian restaurants and there are definitely a relatively small number of cool kid wines, most of which I’ve tried either in Italy or over here. 

1. Miani.  I’m starting with Miani because it’s the original geeky, hard to get Italian white unicorn wine.  Enzo Pontoni makes micro production, uber low yield wines from a number of grapes.  The wines are indeed rich and really require a few years to hit their stride.  But they are undoubtedly serious wines.  They cost $70 and up stateside so they aren’t cheap but they are certainly wines that serious lovers of Italian whites should try.
2. Walter Massa.  Massa’s wines are right up my alley.  They are made on the border of Piedmont and Lombardy from the Timorasso grape.  Massa “discovered” the grape which had formerly been used in field blends and starting vinifying it as a varietal.  These wines are definitely the cool kid wines in Italy at present and they are really my style of wine.  While they can bit a bit rich in hot years (especially the cru Costa del Vento) they are generally mineral-driven, high in acid and great with food.  For me, Massa’s wines are a great hope for italy being able to produce the kind of wines that I really get into.  They’re also fairly affordable and available stateside.
3. Quintodecimo.  Campania’s Quintodecimo is a reliable standby at Italy’s top restaurants.  And it’s generally very consistently good.  Nicely mineral and well balanced with decent complexity.  They make excellent Fiano di Avellino, Falanghina as well as Greco di Tufo.  They are getting a bit expensive for what they are versus wines of equivalent quality in France and certainly Germany.
4. Marisa Cuomo.  Made on the Amalfi coast in Campania.  At their best, these wines are mineral and delicious.  They’ve gotten a tad expensive statside ($40 or so) but are readily available.  
5. CaLaFe.  The micro production passion project of a grandfather who named the winery after his three granddaughters.  They make a great Taurasi but also make several whites, one of which is a Greco di Tufo that is outstanding.   It has the minerality I crave along with great floral notes on the nose and the wines are really well balanced.  There’s this intense spiciness to the wine and the juiciness is such that it’s almost alive on the palate.  These will age wonderfully and I really want to see what happens with them. 
6. Lunarossa. One of the few Italian whites that can compete with Germany and France.  The winemaker studied with Gravner and ages the wines in amphorae but uses some wizardry so they are white and not orange.  The Quartara in certain years has the density and complexity of Hermitage Blanc, which is saying something.  I was quite stunned when I tried them.  These wines are certainly eye openers for French and German wine snobs and illustrate that with some technique (and crazy vineyard work in the right microclimate), world class white wines can be made in Italy.
7. I Clivi. I added this to the list even though it’s too fruity and unctous to be really in my wheelhouse.  Still, I must admit that for what they are, they are very well made.  Big fruit, honey, opulent as heck.  They do have some balancing acidity and structure though and with certain food, they can be fun to drink. 
8. Borgo del Tiglio. - Perhaps the reference point producer now for Italian dry whites that can age. They have precision and depth almost in a class of their own. 
9. Le Strette. The Nas-Cetta  grape, native to Novello, is another Fassy grape that I think has great potential.  While there is certainly fruit in these wines, there is also the mineral and acid balance that I crave.  Le Strette’s Nas-Cetta and single vineyard Pasinot are some of my favorite Italian whites.  Deep, salty, mineral and juicy.  Really dense and complex.  Again, these are great with food.  This is also the first Italian white that I’ve ever sold at Fass Selections.
10. Cadia.  Perhaps the Italian white varietal that I’ve been forced to taste the most and I really can’t stand is Roero Arneis.  I taste a ton of Barolo and it seems every Barolo producer, on matter how good, makes an almost cloyingly fruity and floral Roero.  I always thought that was the grape/terroir combination until I had Cadia’s Roero.  It’s exactly what you want in a $20 or so white wine. The nose is pleasingly round and the palate is clean, mineral and juicy with the fruit in a supporting, rather than dominating role.  This is not a world beater but a wine I’d happily drink any time.