Gavi/Cortese di Gavi

Gavi, or Cortese di Gavi, is made from Cortese alone, a grape rooted here for centuries. A document of 3 June 972, kept in the State Archive of Genoa, records the Bishop of Genoa letting vineyards at Meirana to two men of Gavi; letters between the castle of Montaldeo and the Marquis Doria mention vineyards planted "all with Cortese" in 1659; and in 1798 Count Nuvolone's first ampelography of Piedmont praised the Corteis for making good, plentiful wine that keeps.

The wine may be still, lightly sparkling or sparkling. A Riserva ages a year from the fifteenth of October after the harvest, six months of it in bottle, and a Riserva Spumante Metodo Classico spends at least 18 months on its lees. Gavi became a DOC in 1974 and a DOCG in 1998.