🍷 La Scolca

La Scolca is a family wine estate at Rovereto, a hamlet of Gavi in the province of Alessandria, south-eastern Piedmont. According to the estate, it has been making wine since 1919, and Wikidata gives the same year; the estate belongs to the Soldati family and is run today by the fourth generation, Chiara Soldati.

According to the estate, it built its name on the white Cortese grape, above all with Gavi dei Gavi, sold with a black label, and also makes other Gavi DOCG wines such as Il Valentino, Villa Scolca and Gavi La Scolca. Its range also includes sparkling wines under the Soldati name, the long-aged D'Antan reserves, a Pinot Noir and a low-alcohol wine, Cortegaia. The estate says it ages wines on their lees and uses a photovoltaic system for power.

According to the estate, the Gavi dei Gavi Limited Edition is aged at least three years on the lees in steel and then two more years in bottle; its sparkling range includes Soldati Brut Millesimato, Soldati Brut, Soldati Pas Dosé, Brut Rosé and Blanc de Blancs. The Gavi production specification (text amended up to 2014) allows five types: still, frizzante, spumante, Riserva and Riserva spumante metodo classico, all from Cortese alone; Riserva needs one year of ageing, six months of it in bottle, and the classic-method Riserva two years, of which eighteen months on the lees.

Gavi, also called Cortese di Gavi, is a protected designation of origin (PDO) for wines from the Cortese grape grown around the town of Gavi, listed in the EU register eAmbrosia. Under EU law a PDO wine must be made entirely from grapes grown in the defined area and be produced there.

Why it matters to you. Gavi dei Gavi is the estate's own brand name; Gavi DOCG on the label is the designation that sets the rules. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.