2024 Laura Ashero, Vermentino, Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC, Liguria, Italy.
The beautiful Ligurian coast of northwestern Italy, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and sees loads of sunny days, but nicely ventilated by cool breezes from the northern hinterlands, makes for the perfect conditions to grown Pigato and Vermentino, closely related grapes and the Laura Ashero winery makes some of the finest examples out there. This crisply detailed 2024 Vermentino Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC is brilliantly focused and aromatic, enhanced by a short bit of skin contact, showing off a coastal salinity, a steely medium bodied palate with lime flower, Meyer lemon, tart apricot, quince and green melon, along with crushed stone, almond, snappy herbs and subtle leesy notes. The Laura Ashero wines are some of the most pure and terroir influenced you can find and her focus of phenolic ripeness without excessive alcohol makes her offerings distinctive and vibrantly expressive, as this straw gold Vermentino shows. To achieve their aims, Ashero does a short maceration period and chills the must prior to fermentation, which is done in temperature controlled tank, where the wine is raised on the lees, just for a few days as well, and is aged fr 5 months before bottling. The Ashero family says the maceration helps develop and preserve the aromas and that for her Vermentino and Pigato wines, she feels 12% natural alcohol is the best way to express these varietals, with this wine proving the point to perfection. It’s noted that the Ligurian wine region features a mix of soils including sandy, slate, granite, and limestone, which contribute to the unique characteristics and complexity of its wines. When allowed time in the glass, this Vermentino gives a bit more depth and feels textural, while retaining plenty of zippy acidity, making it great with most all sea food choices.
The story of Vermentino is still somewhat of a mystery, with the Ashero family saying that Vermentino, now recognized as a Ligurian varietal and given its own DOC here in 1988, but that the vine is (maybe) of Middle Eastern origin, as they believe, and was passed through Spain and transplanted to Corsica in the 14th century. From there, the winery continues, it spread to Sardinia, (though like Grenache, the Sardinians claim it originated there) and then landed in Tuscany and spread throughout the Ligurian arc, where it has found a happy home, especially when made by this winery. In the temperate climate of the coast it has found the ideal environment for cultivation, as it does not like the cold, Ashero adds, and the many hours of Mediterranean sun leads to perfect ripening of the golden bunches on the vines here. Laura Ashero’s son takes care of the cellar, with the advice of oenologist Gianpaolo Ramò, and the running of the vineyards, while her granddaughter Bianca runs the marketing and business side of things, which has led to great appreciation of the wines on the world stage and made them some of the most sought after from the region. The winery is based, a little ways inland from the coast, in Pontedassio, in the hills above Imperia, and its vines are situated at approximately 150 meters above sea level, on the mentioned, with year-round sun-kissed hills, enjoying the ideal temperature and terrain for cultivating vines and maturing grapes. Now, the winery exports mostly the whites, but they also do a red made from Rossese di Dolceacqua (Tibouren), which I hope to sample soon. Be sure to keep an eye out for these Laura Ashero wines, I tried both this one, with its faint tropical elements and the Pigato, which was surprisingly more shy, but delicious, and I highly recommend them for those looking to taste the flavors of Liguria, and I suggest having them with steamed claims, squid pasta dishes and or fresh crudo.
($35 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive