Cortese Grape
White Grape
The Cortese white grape is grown in the regions of Basilicata, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Piedmont, Sardinia, Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto.
Cortese is a vine named for the first time among the white Piedmontese grapes in 1659, when the factor of the Marquis Doria wrote about all cortese vines, some vermentino, sweet nebbioli. In a memory of 1799, Count Nuvolone presented this vine with the dialectal name of “corteis”. The first historians who scientifically dealt with the cortese were Demaria and Leardi in their work of 1870 on the vines cultivated at the time in the Alexandrian area.
The cortese is more widespread in Piedmont, in the provinces of Asti, on the right bank of the Tanaro; in the province of Alessandria, especially in the Novese and Tortona areas, and in the province of Cuneo, in the lower Belbo Valley.
Characteristics of the wine
From the Cortese vine we obtain a straw yellow colored wine with greenish reflections quite consistent, intense, quite complex, with hints of fruit, such as white peach, apricot, hawthorn floral, a slight mineral nuance. It closes with a finish of bitter almond and slightly hazelnut, dry, quite warm, quite soft, savory with a good dose of acidity, slightly almondy finish, full-bodied, quite balanced, intense, fine.
