Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC

Located in the western part of Liguria (the Riviera di Ponente), this DOC appellation produces wines from a landscape defined by a rocky substratum with light-coloured marly-calcareous strata. The well-drained and sandy soils, combined with a favourable Mediterranean maritime climate, yield wines known for their freshness, sapidity, sea-like salinity, and intense fruit aromas.

• White Wines: Must be at least 95% Pigato, Vermentino, or Moscato. Pigato — a local biotype of Vermentino — is the star: textured, aromatic, with a bitter almond finish and enough structure to age several years. Vermentino here is typically lighter and more citrus-driven than its Sardinian counterpart.
• Red Wines: Must be at least 90% Rossese. Wines from this broader DOC are generally lighter and more fruit-forward than the more intense, spicy expressions of the specific Rossese di Dolceacqua DOC. The DOC also covers two other reds: Ormeasco, the local Dolcetto, and Granaccia, which is Grenache under a Ligurian name and is grown in small quantities around Quiliano.

The Terroir Liguria is a narrow strip between mountain and sea with almost no flat land in it. Vineyards sit on terraces cut into steep slopes running down to the Mediterranean, held by dry-stone walls that have to be maintained by hand and rebuilt after heavy rain. The soils are thin, sandy and marly-calcareous over rock, and they drain instantly. Two influences shape the wines: the sea, never more than a few kilometres away, which puts salt and humidity into the air; and the mountains directly behind, which block the cold from the north and drop the night temperatures. That combination gives whites with both ripeness and cut — the sapidity the region is known for is not a metaphor.

The Subzones The DOC is subdivided by variety and place, and the word on the label after the appellation is the useful information:

• Pigato: centred on Albenga and the Arroscia valley, the most structured and most ageworthy of the whites.
• Vermentino: widely planted along the coast, lighter and more directly citrus.
• Ormeasco: the local name for Dolcetto, grown inland around Pornassio at altitude, including a pale rosé called Sciac-trà.
• Rossese: the red of the western Riviera, distinct from the more celebrated Rossese di Dolceacqua DOC further west.

The Critical Take Pigato is the wine to seek and the one most often misunderstood. It is not a light aperitivo white: good examples are broad, waxy and faintly bitter, with a texture closer to a Rhône white than to a Vermentino, and they improve for three to five years while nearly everyone drinks them at six months. The region’s real problem is economic rather than qualitative — tourism has made the land worth more than the wine, terraces are being abandoned, and the area under vine keeps shrinking.

At the Table Ligurian cooking, which is among the best food matches in Italy: trofie al pesto, stuffed vegetables, anchovies, focaccia, and the fish of the coast. Pigato has the weight for rabbit alla ligure, the regional dish. Serve the whites at 11–12°C, and Ormeasco and Rossese lightly chilled at 14–15°C.

Benchmark Producers Bruna (Pigato benchmark), Anfossi, Laura Aschero.