2019 Vigne del Malina, Pinot Grigio, IGT Venezia Giulia, Italy.
One of the most intriguing winery discoveries at the 2025 Tre Bicchieri (Gambero Rosso) Tasting, was the Bacchetti family’s “Vigne del Malina” label, and especially their surprising set of whites, including the pristine Chardonnay and this exceptional pale gold and crisply focused Pinot Grigio. As mentioned in my prior reviews, Vigne del Malina is set between two ancient streams, the Malina and the Ellero, with tons of alluvial stones scattered throughout the vines, which seem to be infused into the wines, as seen here in this lovely, almost Alsace style example of Pinot Grigio (Gris), it delivers a complex depth of flavors and displays apple, white peach, lemony citrus, subtle tropical notes and fig fruits, a touch of lychee, tangy herbs, mineral tones, wet stones, almond and delicate white flowers. The steely medium body feels wonderfully judged in mouth and there’s a nice lift and acidity which keeps a fine tension, while allowing an impressive textural quality to shine throughout, these Vigne del Malina really are under the radar gems and I highly recommend chasing them down.
I tasted through the Vigne del Malina estate offerings, again as noted, at the San Francisco stop of the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tour, and It was a great pleasure to taste the wines with Erica Bacchetti, of Vigne del Malina, who is now the international face of the winery and part of a talented young generation in Italian wine. The terroir here, in this part of the Venezia Giulia region of Northeast Italy, is distinct with its soil composed of alluvial gravels and large stones, along with a unique micro-climate with what the winery calls high thermal excursions, that are constantly ventilated by the wind in these pre-alpine valleys. All these conditions make for perfect ripening of the grapes and retention of acidity, important for grapes like Chardonnay, and Pinot Grigio, which is quite special as this bottling shows, along with the Refosco red grape, indigenous to this area and a delight in the hands of the Bacchettis. This Pinot Grigio wine, like their non malo-lactic Chardonnay, was whole cluster pressed to tank for fermentation and aging, lasting about 10 months before seeing four years of bottle maturing in the winery’s cellar. This is a winery I plan to follow and maybe someday visit when I get back to Italy!
($35 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive