Vermentino, Amore
My first experience with Vermentino was underwhelming. It was an inexpensive wine from Sardinia —soft and fruity, but not compelling. I didn’t take it seriously. Then we started making Vermentino from our experimental vineyard planted in 2004. I appreciated Vermentino’s expressive fruit but was still not convinced it was worthy of being bottled as a singular varietal wine. Ironically, a dreadful 2011 vintage changed all that for me. Cool weather and excessive rain caused us to harvest grapes at low sugars just to save them from rotting. I think we picked Vermentino at 19 brix, which is, to say the least, underripe. Shockingly, the wine had varietal fruit AND it had minerality from fantastic acidity. Epiphany!!
Maybe if we moderate crop levels (Vermentino can be quite vigorous) and carefully monitor the ripening, we can harvest concentrated, aromatic and flavorful Vermentino that has more structure from natural acidity than those from Italy! And that, my friends, has been the UNTI Vermentino ethos ever since. As Vermentino increased in popularity with our customers, we planted additional vineyard blocks of it. In 2018, we planted about 2 acres of a Vermentino clone from Italy’s Liguria. At the time I hadn’t a clue how this clone might differ from the one we had. In 2019, thanks to our dear friends Sonja and Dino Bugica (Diavola in Geyserville), we visited Ottaviano Lambruschi, the preeminent Vermentino winery in Liguria’s DOC called Colli di Luni. Here is great piece on Lambruschi
Walking through Lambruschi’s best vineyard, Costa Marina, I noticed the Vermentino clusters were longer, not as compact, and had smaller berries than ours. In 2021, when our new Ligurian clone vines started setting a crop, the clusters were quite like what I saw at Lambruschi. This is the kind of stuff I live for in wine. We kept this new clone Vermentino separate from our other vineyard blocks to see how it compared to our existing Vermentino. While it wasn’t as overtly fruity as our original clone, it had more complex savory aromas and flavors implying it might be a more “serious” wine. In 2024 we blended all our Vermentino together, and it rendered our most interesting bottling yet, in a vintage that featured several heat waves. The two clones seem to play nicely together. I’m guessing we are one of the only wineries in the world making Vermentino from multiple clones. In Sardinia, Liguria, Piedmonte, and Provence, they likely use the clone that is native to their growing region. I believe our Vermentino has improved due to the complexity we get from using a variety of clones.
Our winemaking approach to Vermentino is almost identical to that of Fabio Lambruschi’s. “Fabio’s goal is simply to make clean, precise wines that reflect the terroir and the characteristics of the Vermentino grape and so everything in the cellar is kept simple and traditional. Fermentation and aging take place in stainless steel at controlled temperatures with no grape skins involved in the maceration and no malolactic conversion in order to preserve the freshness and vibrancy of the wines.” We couldn’t agree more with Fabio, as this is the only way we have ever made
Vermentino.
As an unapologetic lover of European wines, I’ve never said what we do in Dry Creek is better than our favorite French or Italian counterparts, until now. I recently participated on a panel discussion focused on California Italian varietal wines. We all agreed that the diurnal shift between daytime highs and nighttime low temperatures give us a decided
advantage with Mediterranean whites. We can achieve physiological ripeness with Vermentino while maintaining higher levels of natural acidity — something that almost never happens with California Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. Additionally, we have multiple clones of Vermentino planted, which is likely not the case in Sardinia, Liguria, Tuscany, Piemonte or Provence. Making Vermentino from our multiple clones has given us more complex wine. Vermentino’s advantage really shines in vintages like 2024, where we had several Summer heat waves, which can take its toll on natural acidity. Being native to the Mediterranean, Vermentino is more resilient in these conditions than Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. In our area wineries often have to add acid to their wines because our climate is not as cool as Burgundy or the Loire Valley. Growers concerned about how to adjust to global warming need look no further than Vermentino. So someday soon, when Vermentino emerges as a major player in California, we will be
singing “Wish they all could be California Vermentinos.”
MU
Italian Vermentino Inspiration
These are our favorite Vermentino producers in Liguria, which is our favorite region for Vermentino. We are not big fans of most Vermentino from Sardinia as the wines are often too soft or low in acidity. Tuscan Vermentino seems to be improving, but I still prefer those from Liguria
Ottaviano Lambruschi Colli Di Luni Costa Marina is his best. Richer style, but balanced.
Giacomelli Colli di Luni
Terenzuola Colli di Luni
Punta Crena Riviera Ligure di Ponente (One of the great wineries in Northern Liguria)
Bisson Portofino Vermentino Vignaerte (Most UNTI-like)