From Montpellier to Livorno, the Mediterranean Riviera spans about 450 miles of coastline and many wine regions line this route. Last year I did a comparative tasting of two Vermentino’s, one from Sardinia and the other from Tuscany. This has led me to study up on Vermentino. At Table & Vine Vermentino isn’t a new thing, we have been longtime devotees of the excellent value Vermentinos coming from Sardinia and the richer more intense versions from Tuscany. What makes Vermentino interesting to me is that it isn’t a wine that is solely focused on fruit, but instead you can’t help but notice all of the “other” that appears in the glass; the soil component and floral and herbal notes are the main attraction. Vermentino produces wines that range in body from floral and creamy to citric and bright, but they all have wonderful freshness and beautiful herbal notes. A classic sea salt finish makes you ready for a bite of food…and another sip of wine. My best descriptor is “savory” in wine formation.

I noted this description of the wines of Corsica by Clark Terry of Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, “the wines are a direct product of sun, stone, sea, and wind.” That seemed to relate to every Vermentino that we tasted. It makes a lot of sense, the wines around the Mediterranean Sea that we are exploring all have considerable influence from sun, stone, sea and wind. If you take a moment to think about each of those things as they relate to the growing of fruit, each brings a distinct wine characteristic to mind. Ripe grapes from the sun, mineral from stone, saltiness from the sea and clean texture from the wind. This is Vermentino.

This past winter I tasted the Punta Crena from Liguria and began to think about the many food pairing possibilities, an almost non-stop stream of ideas pouring from my head. Many are seafood based, which makes a lot of sense because of the environs where these wines are grown. Dishes like Bouillabaisse, pasta with almost any kind of seafood, fried bites of seafood and veggies, and of course raw bar. One dinner hack is that Vermentino pairs very well with the often difficult Artichokes

In France, specifically Provence, they call Vermentino by the name Rolle, they are the same grape. The wines of Provence are special, generally carrying themselves in a very elegant manner, rich texture and an amazing fennel spice. These are the classic wines for Bouillabaisse.

This is the sunniest of France’s wine regions, makes sense on an island in the Med, between Tuscany and Provence. There are many appellations on the island, the broadest being “Ile de Beauté,” or The Isle of Beauty. This is a water surrounded stone “tail” of the Alps, beauty indeed! Here our hero is called Vermentinu in the local dialect.

The razor thin area between the Alps and the Mediterranean, Liguria grows incredible Vermentino and other wines as well. Within Liguria there are two subzones of note, Riviera Ligure di Ponente and Colli di Luni, these are where the best Vermentino’s of the region come from. The limestone soil gives the wine the same sort of savory texture and balance as wines from many great wine regions. This wine is summer’s best friend, pairing with foods from shucked fresh oysters, to breaded and fried vegetables and seafood, to grilled swordfish.

It used to be that to know the wines of Tuscany was to know the hills. Chianti, Brunello, Vino Nobile all being up in the cool hillsides. The emersion of the great wines of Bolgheri, Morellino di Scansano, in the Maremma zone, have made the warmer coastal areas important. Vermentino has blossomed into the great white of Tuscany, mostly grown close to the coast

This is the flagship region of Italy for Vermentino, 75% of all Italian Vermentino plantings are on Sardinia. We have sold a number of Vermentino di Sardinia over the years, these are just picture-perfect summer wines, the grapes for which can come from anywhere on the island. In 1996, Vermentino di Gallura, in Sardinia’s northeast corner was awarded DOCG status, the highest recognition of a wine region, the combination of Mediterranean breeze and heat make these wines something very special.