Any luck aging dry Italian whites

Quite a few years back I was in one of my favorite restaurants and I spotted an older Umani Ronchi Verdicchio on the list for next to nothing (these sell retail for less than $15 for a current release). It was an enjoyable experiment: a lot of fruit, but also showing some mature notes without oxidation. Since then I' ve been letting my Italian whites gather some age; but to mixed results. Valentini Trebbianos (especially the '95) and Jermann Tuninas have all become special wines with some age. Other bottles have not turned out as well and I have not been able to reproduce that original Verdicchio experience, although I keep trying. Clearly some grapes just need to be opened young: Arneis, Vermentino, Garganega. An '03 Soave last night was sadly oxidized.

I have high hopes for Ribolla and Ribolla blends and I am patiently waiting on some Radikon, Gravner and Bea, but I would really appreciate some suggestions for other Italian varieties or producers to try.

Verdicchio ages particularly well (Villa Bucci esp.); also try to find some Alto Adige Pinot Bianco from good producers and give them 5 years in the cellar; they go from clean, crisp bread-sticks (which go really well with appetizers & shell-fish) to cooked apples/strudel aromas (which go well with more complex, fatty seafood). I've also had a bit of luck with slight aging of Campanian whites esp. Greco di Tufo.

marco

Marco,

Thank you for tips. I have some Bucci sleeping, but never thought about trying to age Pinot Bianco. I'll have to give it a try.

Quite a few years back I was in one of my favorite restaurants and I spotted an older Umani Ronchi Verdicchio on the list for next to nothing (these sell retail for less than $15 for a current release). It was an enjoyable experiment: a lot of fruit, but also showing some mature notes without oxidation. Since then I' ve been letting my Italian whites gather some age; but to mixed results. Valentini Trebbianos (especially the '95) and Jermann Tuninas have all become special wines with some age. Other bottles have not turned out as well and I have not been able to reproduce that original Verdicchio experience, although I keep trying. Clearly some grapes just need to be opened young: Arneis, Vermentino, Garganega. An '03 Soave last night was sadly oxidized.

I have high hopes for Ribolla and Ribolla blends and I am patiently waiting on some Radikon, Gravner and Bea, but I would really appreciate some suggestions for other Italian varieties or producers to try.

I've been aging some Ribolla with some mixed results. Gravner has so far stood up for me. I had a bottle of his 98 recent and it was in great shape, not to be visited again for a few years (that was the pre-amphora version so not sure how the amphora version will standup). Other slightly less expensive ribollas have been 50 50. Some retain their acidity and body and others just taste old and oxided....

why would i want to? no one seems to have admitted that they are all delish when young; and everyone admits mixed results with aging ------ sooooooo

Dan,

I once had a glimpse at the cellarmaster's notes for the old cooperative winery in Goriska Brda which is the Slovenian half of the Italian Collio and it had wines dating back to the 60's. The grapes that seemed to hold up in the long term were sauvignon and chardonnay.
A well made Collio blend should age well. I still have a Sacrisassi Bianco '99 from Le Due Terre which I'm dying to open. The other bottle was way too tight when opened years ago.

I also found in a store recently a late release Lugana 2001 from Ca' dei Frati. Its the trebbiano grape grown near the Lago di Garda in Lombardy. It was outstanding, a real surprise. I've been stashing Lugana from another producer since to see what happens.
Here's the Ca' dei Frati website if you're interested:
http://www.cadeifrati.it/azienda.html