La Scolca - Gavi di Gavi - D'Antan - 2006 - 750ml - La Scolca

La Scola was the first winery established in Gavi in 1919 and not only ranks amongst the top Gavi producers but also one of the most historic white wine producers in Italy. Today, the estate is run by Giorgio Soldati, the founder’s great-grandson, and his daughter, Chiara, who represents the fifth generation. The estate’s 148 acres of vineyards are planted on the hills surrounding the family villa, 30-miles from the Mediterranean. These steep slopes are made up of calcareous-clay and volcanic soils with iron, shot with veins of chalky limestone like that found in Champagne and Chablis, giving that characteristic flinty character. With Piedmont’s oldest Cortese vines (60+ years) and decades of pioneering, family winemaking tradition, La Scolca produces spectacular, complex, and concentrated age-worthy wines now found on the world’s finest wine lists. The colour is light gold-green, and the nose has wonderful buttery mint notes, some Chablis-like flint and a crushed almond beneath. In the mouth there's a raft of cool, mouth-watering apple and lemon fruit, quite a rich texture, and that wet stone character. Long and poised it stays cool and precise and is an exceptional wine in many ways.