Oltrepò Pavese Pinot Grigio DOC

The fourth of the denominations separated out of the Oltrepò Pavese DOC in 2010, and the one whose registered file is most honest about why. Where Bonarda, Buttafuoco, Sangue di Giuda and Pinot Nero were each granted autonomy for their historical importance, this one, the file states plainly, obtained its own disciplinare for its commercial importance.

The Terroir The file gives the description shared across the Oltrepò separations: hill country with a dry winter climate, ventilated in summer, and large temperature swings, which make the area suited to growing grapes and making wine; traditional training systems, planting densities and pruning; and production yields the file credits with giving the wine its complexity. The ground is calcareous clay and marl on the Lombard flank of the Apennine foothills, south of the Po.

Grape Varieties Pinot Grigio, with Pinot Nero also listed among the principal varieties — the two are closely bound in this zone, where Pinot Nero has been vinified off its skins for sparkling and white wine since the nineteenth century. The wine is made still and frizzante, at a minimum 11.5 per cent.

Ramato The file describes the colour as straw-yellow, more or less intense, or lightly coppery. That word matters. Ramato — copper — is the traditional northern Italian style of Pinot Grigio, made with brief skin contact rather than pressed straight off, giving colour, texture and a faint tannic grip. It was standard practice before the international market decided Pinot Grigio should be water-white, and the disciplinare here still permits it.

The Critical Take Italian Pinot Grigio is the most successful and least regarded white wine in the world, and most of it deserves the disregard. This denomination exists because the Oltrepò makes a great deal of it and wanted the name on the label. Judged honestly, most of what is bottled is competent commodity wine. But the marl slopes above 300 metres give something better — a Pinot Grigio with actual acidity, pear and almond and a faintly bitter close — and the ramato versions from serious growers are among the more interesting whites in Lombardy. You have to choose the producer; the denomination will not do it for you.

Four Names Out of One The 2010 restructuring split Casteggio, Buttafuoco, Sangue di Giuda, Bonarda and this from the parent DOC. Whether replacing one unknown name with several smaller ones helps a buyer remains the open question of the Oltrepò, and Pinot Grigio is the case where it plainly did work — because here the grape, not the place, was doing the selling all along.

At the Table Aperitivo, and Lombard lake and river food: fried perch, risotto, salumi, and fresh cheeses. Serve at 10–12°C, and a ramato a degree or two warmer.

Benchmark Producers Travaglino, Frecciarossa, Bruno Verdi, Monsupello.