Terenzuola Vigne Basse Vermentino 2025

Drinking this wine is a straight-shot to the Italian Riviera. It's dry, lemony, and crisp, and, like the Mediterranean winds that sweep over the vineyards, a little salty, too. 

Vigne Basse is one of several Vermentino wines made by Giuliani; this particular version comes from their lower-elevation vines (hence the ‘basse’) at 50–100 m in elevation, 5 km from the sea as the crow flies. It is just inside Tuscany but within spitting distance of the border with Liguria. Retaining freshness is one of Giuliani’s obsessions, it seems. Hand-harvesting starts in September but the moment of picking varies across the several vineyard parcels. Grapes from these soils are a little lower in acidity than those from their shale soils – where they grow Vermentino for their Fosso di Corsano label – so in the Vigne Basse they include 5% Albarola to raise the acidity a little. They also avoid malolactic conversion in all their white wines for the same reason. The cellar is on four levels so the grapes are moved by gravity in order to preserve the quality of the fruit. Slow pressing is followed by fermentation with ambient yeasts in stainless-steel tanks, where the wine then ages four months on lees before bottling. Have a glass whenever pesto is involved.