A Trio of Italian Whites
by Tom Wolf
2023 Custoza “Greoto”
Italy | Veneto
Our longest-running Italian import is not a Barolo, Chianti Classico, or Brunello di Montalcino but this humble and off-the-beaten-path bianco from the Lake Garda region. And while we love it partly because of the Piccoli family’s infectious devotion to their region’s local grape varieties—Garganega, Trebbiano, Trebbianello, Cortese, and Manzoni Bianco—you can also just love it at face value. With notes of ripe apple and citrus zest, it’s an effortless and delicious sipper at aperitivo or alongside simple pastas.
2023 Roero Arneis
Italy | Piedmont
Years ago, having stopped at a hole-in-the-wall trattoria for lunch near Italy’s border with France and Switzerland, Kermit ordered a pitcher of Arneis, hailing from the neighboring region of Piemonte. Coming across a stellar wine in such a setting is rarer than you might think, but that time, the pitcher delivered an exemplary, honest, and pure expression of this Piemontese white grape. It was the perfect complement to charcuterie and salad at the beginning of a relaxed lunch. Fifteen years later, this luscious cuvée supplies that same original, easygoing charm, proving Piemonte isn’t just about red wine.
2023 Pigato “Vigneto Ca da Rena”
Italy | Liguria
Planted along the Ligurian coast, high above the Mediterranean Sea, the local Pigato grape delivers a zesty and saline seafood-friendly bianco whose slight differences from its more famous cousin Vermentino are fun to ponder over raw oysters or a crabmeat risotto. If you have not yet explored Punta Crena’s exhilarating range of wines, let 2025 be the year that changes, starting here!