What are your top italian whites ?

Just two names in my mind :

  • Trebbiano d’Abruzzo Valentini
  • Etna bianco Benanti (carricante)

I also found great the sweet Maculan Acininobili 1998 (passito vespaïolo).

What are your best experiences, able to challenge the best white expressions in the world (dry or sweet) ?

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Laurent,
I would have to say Timorasso from AltoPiemonte is probably my favorite white variety.
Also like Vermentino/Pigato/Favorita from Liguria & Piemonte.
And Ribolla Gialla from Friuli is another favorite, in general.
And Arneis from Piemonte.
Tom

Pieropan La Rocca or Calvarino
Jermann Tunina
Miani (nearly ALL the whites)

Arneis. Almondo makes a terrific example. They call it “the white barolo”. But WAY cheaper.

Bruno Giacosa Arneis
Angelo Negro Arneis Unfiltered

If you want something different that does not scream Italian I would recommend Peter Diploli’s “Voglar” Sauvignon from Alto Adige. Elena Walch makes some really good pinot blanc and gewurztraminer.

I’d have to include Miani in there for higher end stuff, and I Clivi for more value whites that can age.

My two favorites are:
Ornellaia Poggio alle Gazze
Antinori Cervaro Della Sala

Fiano di Avellino (for example Pietracupa and Ciro Picariello)
and Greco di Tufo (in addition to the two above, also Benito Ferrara and his Vigna Cicogna)

I agree with many of these. For me, top examples of Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo, Soave, Etna Bianco (especially Pietramarina), Timorasso, and sometimes Verdicchio. All of these can age. I have had some wonderful wines from less well-known varieties in Campania, too, such as Falanghina Beneventana and Coda di Volpe.

I like the Colli di Lapio offering of Fiano di Avellino. ($20 +/-)

Also impressed with first time tasting Pigato and Malvasia (Sardinia) a few months back (also $20 +/-)

Found Benanti Pietramarina 2009 good but not great.

ROBERTO ZENI - Muller Thurgau, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio & his Nosiola -
SCHIOPETTO - Ribolla Gialla & Sauvignon Blanc

Pieropan Soave

My favorites for inexpensive, tasty and food friendly Italian whites include:

Soave
Carricante
Arneis
Verdicchio

Top? Don’t really think in those terms as simple wines with soul and beauty can be tops in the proper setting. As an example, today I am in Sirmione, and a Turbiana (2016, 2013, and a late-release 1999), and a Chiaretto flat out knocked my socks off on a warm early Spring day. So for today, they were tops.

Were you asking for varieties or actual wines, Laurent? I’m a curiosity-driven oddball and the couple Gravners I’ve had (Breg and Amphyllo) have been really memorable for me.

For sweet, I’d have to go with Avignonesi Vin Santo; I had a '94, tremendous complexity, like port squared, while also being the most viscous wine I have ever encountered. On non-sweet, there are so many and so many different styles,a number of which have been mentioned above. Pieropan is certainly one, very classic; Gravner, another, and just the opposite. Then, there are the various Arneis, including Giacosa and Vietti, as well as Freisa, and all the Sicilians, both Carricante and Fiano (which I am just getting to know better). Generally, I avoid Tuscan whites and most vermentino, but I may be missing something.

For a surprisingly good “lesser” wine that’s a bargain:
Abbazzia di Novacella - Kerner

For more serious wines:
De Bartoli - “Integer” Terre Siciliane -Grillo: Just had this wine at the LDM/Dressner tasting yesterday. Moderate skin contact, but not really orange and not bitter. Just a super interesting wine.

Surprises:
Ettore Germano - Riesling - Alto Langhe
Vajra - Riesling - Alto Langhe

Good concentration, complex, dry

Nearly as good as his reds:
Emidio Pepe - Trebbiano d’Abruzzo

Nals Margreid’s whites - the Punggl pinot grigio & the Sirmian pinot bianco - are dynamite values at their pricepoints [roughly $20 to $25]. And they’re great with food, especially with the spicy dishes.

I kinda feel like Nals Margreid is trying to do in Italy what Didier Dagueneau was doing in the Loire about 25 years ago. [I’d love to try a Margreid dessert wine, if there were such a thing.]

Below that price point, sub-$14.99, we’re seeing excellent values in unoaked Pinot Grigio [or at least they taste unoaked to my palate].

And we even had a $12.99 Sauvignon Blanc, from Vinska Klet Goriska Brda, in Slovenia, under the “Villa Brici” label, which was superb.

For the record, year in & year out, Paulo Saracco Moscato d’Asti is probably the consistently best & most aggressively priced wine in the entire world - it’s always about 95 points every time I put it in my mouth.

Somebody at Saracco has perfected that recipe.

And Zardetto Prosecco is another label you can always trust, year in & year out.

Whenever I’m far away from trusted sources, I can always pop into a Big Box store and grab a bottle of Saracco & a bottle of Zardetto and be satisfied that the party won’t be a total failure.