2019 La Mesma, Gavi DOCG del Comune di Gavi Monterotondo, Black Label, Piemonte, Italy.
Just as in previous vintages, I was blown away and thrilled with La Mesma’s 2019 Black Label Gavi DOCG, a 100% Cortese white obviously, and made by La Mesma’s hugely talented winemaker Massimo Azzolini, with incredible mineral intensity, beautiful tension, depth and pleasure in the glass. Gavi, like Soave in the Veneto, has raised the game and is producing some magical wines that rival the best from the Loire and Burgundy at bargain prices comparatively in quality terms, but with their own terroir driven expressions. This lightly golden hued 2019 La Mesma Black Label Gavi shows off loads of steely charm, wet stones, saline, white blossoms, and a medium bodied palate of tart peach, quince, lemon/lime and crisp green apple fruits, as well as delicate florals, orange zest, almond nuttiness and subtle herb notes. As noted here at grape live.com, the Azienda Agricola La Mesma, that was founded in 2003, is an organic certified winery following strict organic and holistic practices, they are faithful stewards of their land and promote biodiversity to grow better grapes, as this lovely wine clearly proves is the right way to farm. A leader in the Slow Wine movement, La Mesma’s Gavi wines have been recognized as some of the top sustainable wines in Italy and they are committed to the best environmental practices, including going as green as possible, even adding solar panels to reduce their carbon footprint, as well as trying to be socially conscious by hiring and training displaced peoples, that had to flee war zones. Grown on complex soils that includes unique chalky white marl and alluvial outcroppings, the all organic grapes saw 100% hand harvesting, immediately followed by a soft pressing and a controlled-temperature vinification and lees aging exclusively in cement tanks with some bâtonnage. This special Gavi Monterotondo terroir with its elevation, limestone and climate makes for an awesome wine and I highly recommend chasing down any and all of these La Mesma offerings.
The La Mesma winery, as mentioned in my prior reviews, is a small family run business being owned and managed by three sisters, Paola, Francesca, and Anna Rosina that have turned a small plot of land into a very noteworthy estate making precise and soulful wines. Their importer Tanaro River were impressed by the quality of the wines here and note Paola and her two sisters were raised in the city of Genoa on the Ligurian coast, without any viticulture background, but that didn’t stop them from making a success of their project. The Rosina sisters’ journey to producing Gavi wines began about 20 years ago when they decided to turn their family country house, which is nestled in the peaceful hills on the border between Piemonte and Liguria into a tiny self contained estate winery. La Mesma, introduced to me by my Italian Sommelier/Winemaker friend Giuseppi Cossu, is located in famous the Piemonte region noted for little and zingy white wines made from the native Cortese grape. It was, as they explain, their mother that suggested to the sisters, that they plant a small vineyard here, thinking they could just make wine for family and friends. So what originally started out as a hobby vineyard would blossom into a viable, successful business with outstanding quality well beyond their imagination! While not born into a family of winegrowers, the Rosina sisters used their individual professional talents to good effect and their passion and hardworking or grit has served them well, creating winery that is now the pride of the region. Gavi sits on the extreme southern edge of Piedmont and as the winery notes is a physical and geological frontier where the great plain and mountains meet, with alluvial soils, the red clay, marls and sandstones, with Monterotondo having limestone and tuffaceous patches at an altitude of about 350 meters above sea level that gives the wines a striking minerality, as seen here. The Rosina’s La Mesma is also the only producer to make the full range of Gavi wines adhering to the DOCG rules, including some sparkling versions, along with a Riserva and this one.
($30 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive