The minerality of Gavi with Coppo winery

The Coppo winery is located n the Piedmont region of Italy within the city of Canelli. The founder of Coppo, Piero Coppo, first started their wine production with sparkling Moscato. As time progressed and the need for drier wines was demanded by the market, Coppo started offering wines such as barbera. The winery has been passed down four generations operated by the 4 grandsons of Piero Coppo and continued on further by Edoardo and Massimiliano. 

Coppo Family

The family has made many changes over the years through new wine cellars, renovations, investments in equipment and have tried to stay true to the traditions of the winery while also trying to appeal to the broader audience and the demands of the wine world. The winery's philosophy stated on their site is the following “a wine is produced because it is part patrimony of the history of the locals as well as part of the family’s tradition”. This is what I find beautiful about the wines of Italy. There is deep heritage and roots behind the scenes of each wine. It's more than just the wine. It's the story told from hundreds of years and how the wines came to be.

Coppo Wine Cellar

Coppo winery

The wines of Gavi are from the Monferrato area within the Alessandria province of Piedmont. This area is very close to the Liguria wine region known as the Italian Riviera. As you can see from the pictures the soil is made up of pieces of gypsum (a calcium sulfate mineral), calcareous marl and rocky soil, which produces wine with minerality. The soil consists of marine sedimentary, therefore, Gavi is a nice pairing with shellfish and seafood. It's also good with bagna cauda, a piedmont dish which is a sauce consisting of olive oil, anchovies and garlic along with vegetables. 

The producer that helped put Gavi on the map, La Scolca, introduced Gavi to the states which set off the popularity. That wine became known as Gavi dei Gavi. Gavi had been a white wine that rivaled being one of the leaders in Italy throughout the 1960's and 1970's until pinot grigio hit the scene and became the star grape.

Gavi became a DOCG in 1998. Gavi is made of the cortese grape native to Piedmont and is typically florally on the nose with white flowers, lemon, honeydew and green apples. On the palate its bone dry and fresh and crisp with citrus and minerality. 

Cortese grape that makes up Gavi

Coppo produces a variety of grape varietals including barbera, freisa, chardonnay and moscato that are produced around the comune of Canelli except their nebbiolo and gavi wines produced not far outside this area. The “La Rocca” estate is located in Monterotondo where their Gavi has been produced for over twenty years. 

The 2013 Coppo La Rocca Gavi was straw yellow with a pleasant florally nose the smelled refreshing like peaches, golden apple and sweet almond.  It was dry on the palate and medium in body.  It was moderately crisp and sapid with nice apple on the finish.

Most pictures compliments of the Coppo winery.  Grazie mille!

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