The fine wines of the Langhe > Cortese wine

One of the most important Piedmontese dry wines is Cortese wine. It is not as known as red or moscato wines, although it represents an optimum table wine. It is produced in Alto Monferrato, in the area enclosed between the Bormida and Scrivia rivers, and behind the Ligurian Apennine. Its wine chief towns are Aqui, Ovada, and Novi, in the province of Alessandria. Among the most typical white berried vines there is the Cortese one, which was already well-known in 1700. In fact, the first rather detailed description of Cortese grapes is in the ampelography of Piedmontese vineyards which was carried out by Count Nuvolone, vice-director of the Turin Agrarian Society, in 1798. According to him, Cortese grapes “are long, big, when ripen it becomes yellow and it is good to eat, it makes good wine, it is abundant and it can be preserved”. This first description is found later in a work of 1852. It was indicated the production of various areas of Piedmont, including the ancient Piedmont, and it was underlined the utilization both for its purity and quantity. Moreover, its resistance to diseases and weather make it well considered, especially beyond the Po. Alto Monferrato Cortese wine obtained DOC denomination in 1979, and for years it has contributed to the increment of white wine production, which in Piedmont is one-third of the red wine one. the production area consist of part of the provinces of Asti and Alessandria; hilly attitude vineyards, whose ground is mainly clayey-calcareous, are the only ones suitable, since valley floor and pre-Apennine and Apennine ones are excluded; there are 604 Cortese wine producers, and 388,7 hectares, and a maximum annual production of 27.209 hl, with an average one of 14.311 hl; the only vine allowed is the Cortese one; other non aromatic white grapes are allowed, until a maximum of 15%; its minimum alcoholic content is 10%; its colour is pale yellow, sometimes tending to greenish; its smell is characteristic, delicate, very much slight, persistent; its taste is dry, harmonic, savoury, pleasantly bitter; it is available also as sparkling or champagne-type wine; there is no ageing considered; its ideal matchings are lean appetizers, pasta and seafood rice or with tomato sauce.