2024 Frecciarossa 'Sillery' Oltrepò Pavese DOC

REGION Oltrepò Pavese is in northwest Italy, a bit difficult to find on a map. It sits south of the Po, boxed in by Piemonte, Liguria, and Emilia. Italians call it Vecchio Piemonte. Old Piedmont. Sleepy villages with restaurants that haven’t changed their menu in forty years, and more Pinot Noir planted than almost anywhere else in Italy.

VARIETAL 100% Pinot Nero, but white. The grapes go into the press whole and get squeezed gently enough that no color comes out, which is exactly what Champagne has been doing with black grapes for three hundred years. Fruit gets picked early, so you keep the savory flowery side of Pinot instead of the jammy side.

NOSE White flowers. Citrus peel. Something green and almost balsamic underneath.

PALATE White cherry and peach skin. There is body and some tannins here, more than the pale color indicates, the acid helps keep it clean. Medium weight, no malolactic acid, and bone dry.

WINEMAKING NOTES Whole clusters pressed gently to avoid skin contact, fermented for about three weeks in stainless steel, then aged in stainless for six months, no oak anywhere near it. Certified organic through Valoritalia, which is Italy’s largest certification body. Basically it’s like getting a “Certified USDA Organic” but for wine not food, and you know, in Italy.

PAIRING Anything oily like tuna, mackerel, bluefish. Roast chicken with a lot of lemon, it also has enough structure to stand up to a pork chop.