The Best Whites from Italy's Northeast

Italy’s northeast comprises four regions: Trentino, Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia (FVG) and Veneto. The finest white wines are still being made in Alto Adige and FVG, but Veneto—better known for its rich, heady Amarones—and Trentino are vastly improving the quality of their white wine offerings. In fact, the latter two regions are increasingly good sources for enjoyable, user-friendly, reasonably priced whites, and some small, passionate producers have appeared on the scene with intriguing and satisfying wines.

A fine vintage like 2006, which yielded an abundance of focused and varietally accurate wines, will only help to attract new converts to their cause, even though prices, especially for some of the wines of FVG, can seem high. Following on the heels of a somewhat difficult and distinctly less consistent 2005 growing season, 2006 generally produced excellent examples of what each white grape type of northeast Italy can deliver in its particular terroir. The sun-soaked climatic conditions of ’06, with timely rains and wide day-night temperature differences, made it possible to produce perfumed, vibrant, flavorful white wines with refreshing acidity. But don’t make the mistake of writing off 2005: although this vintage witnessed a number of rainy days right through the harvest, resulting in some grey rot and dilution, the better producers, particularly those in Alto Adige, made some very fine and enjoyable wines.