Vernaccia di San Gimignano comes from the hill terrain of the municipality of San Gimignano alone, in the province of Siena, in the heart of Tuscany. In a region of reds, it is a white with a history documented over centuries. DOC since 1966 and DOCG since 1993, it has about 580 hectares of vineyard and an output of 35,400 hectolitres.
The rules
The regulations require at least 85% Vernaccia di San Gimignano; among the other white grapes permitted, Riesling and Sauvignon together may not exceed 10%. There are two styles: the Vernaccia and the Riserva. Minimum alcohol is 11.5%. The Riserva ages for at least 11 months, 3 of them in bottle, and cannot be released before 1 December of the year after the harvest.
In the glass it is straw yellow, turning golden with age; the aromas are of white flowers, yellow-fleshed fruit, citrus and herbs, and on the palate it is fresh and savoury, with the characteristic almondy, slightly bitter finish. The Riserva gains structure and more evolved notes of dried fruit and honey.
A written history
Vines in San Gimignano date back to Etruscan times, but the Vernaccia grape is said to have been introduced in the twelfth century by Vieri de' Bardi. The commune's Ordinamenti delle Gabelle of 1276 imposed a tax of three soldi on every load of Vernaccia exported. There are several theories about the name: from the Latin vernaculum, "of the place"; from verno, "icy", as the seventeenth-century poet Marchio Lucidi believed; or, according to the Treccani dictionary, from Vernazza, the Cinque Terre village where a wine of the same name was made from the Middle Ages. In the Purgatorio, Dante places Pope Martin IV among the gluttons, too often won over by his craving for Vernaccia.
At the table
It goes with light Tuscan starters, vegetable soups, sea and river fish, white meats and fresh or medium-aged cheeses, including San Gimignano saffron in risottos. The same province gives the great Sangiovese reds, from Chianti to Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
