Lumassina

Lumassina takes its name from lumasse, snails, because that is what the Ligurians eat while drinking it. It is a light, bracingly fresh white from the Savona coast, around 11 per cent alcohol, and it exists in the shadow of Vermentino, which every producer in Liguria makes and which is simply easier to sell.

Origins and names The variety is also called Acerbina, Lumassa Bianca, Lumaca, Buzzetto around Quiliano, and Mataossu around Finale, Noli and Spotorno, though some hold Mataossu to be an unrelated grape. Acerbina and Buzzetto both point at the same thing: the high acidity these wines are known for. Lumassina is documented in Liguria as early as the 1300s, described accurately by Di Rovasenda in 1877 and again in the Bollettino ampelografico of 1883.

What it was used for Once more common around Genoa and later Savona, Lumassina was always blended with other local varieties into the simple everyday wines the Ligurians call vini nostralini. It was never a prestige grape and was not treated as one. That modesty is part of why it survived at all, and also why so little varietal Lumassina has ever been made.

In the vineyard Bunches are medium-large, pyramidal and rather long, carrying two or three wings, with medium-small round berries of a notably green colour. There are no official clones. The decisive practical fact is that it ripens roughly two weeks later than most other Ligurian varieties, and farmers working Liguria’s terraces have never been keen to give space to a grape that makes them wait.

Where it grows Lumassina is found only in Liguria, with sporadic rows just over the Tuscan border. It is concentrated in the Savona countryside around Noli, Spotorno and Varigotti, and also around Quiliano and Finale Ligure. The best hillside sites are named locally: Cappuccini, Montagna, Roviasca, Viarzo, Garzi, Rive, Molini, Tecci and Treponti.

Appearance and structure This is a deliberately light wine, often only 11 per cent alcohol, built on acidity and clarity rather than weight. It has no textural ambition and needs none. The low alcohol is a feature rather than a limitation, and looks increasingly appealing as the rest of Italy gets riper.

Aromatic profile Lumassina can be extremely crisp, with white flowers, a distinct marine, sea-breeze character and hints of pear, green apple and thyme. The aromas are hauntingly fresh and pure, and also considerably less obvious than Vermentino’s, which is the commercial problem in a sentence. Growers put their eggs in the Vermentino basket because Vermentino announces itself.

In the cellar Simple, reductive handling in stainless steel is all it asks. The wine to look for is IGT Colline Savonesi. Monovarietal bottlings do exist and are easy enough to find once you are in the area, which is rather the point: Lumassina is a wine you encounter on the Ligurian coast rather than one that travels to you.

Key expressions

• IGT Colline Savonesi, the usual designation for varietal wines.
• Bottlings labelled Buzzetto from around Quiliano.
• Mataossu from Finale, Noli and Spotorno, if you accept it as the same grape.
• Wines from the named hillside sites above Savona.

The question of aging Lumassina is for the year after the vintage and nothing beyond it. The marine freshness and floral lift that justify the wine are gone within two years, and nothing replaces them. This is one of the clearest cases in Italian wine of a grape that should be drunk where and when it is made.

At the table Snails, by tradition and by name, but the wine is really a companion to the whole coastal repertoire: anchovies, fried fish, shellfish, farinata and vegetables with olive oil. The acidity and low alcohol make it unusually easy to drink through a long lunch. Serve it cold, around eight degrees.

Why it matters Lumassina is what happens when a region finds one white grape that sells: everything else becomes optional. Vermentino is the better-known wine and no one disputes it, but a low-alcohol, high-acid, sea-scented white that has been grown on the Savona coast since the 1300s is worth more than the footnote it has become.