QORTÉ

Qorté is the white wine of the Almivisi estate in Eastern Venice — a blend of Chardonnay (75%), Tai (15%), and Sauvignon (5%) that demonstrates the compositional intelligence of a producer whose commitment to purity and minimum sulphites extends to every decision about which varieties to combine and in what proportions. The name carries the quiet refinement of a wine designed with genuine thought rather than assembled from available components.

The Chardonnay (75%) provides the sweet, fragrant fruit and the structural suitability for barrique ageing that makes it one of the world's most successful white wine bases — but the Almivisi estate has been precise about what the blend needs beyond Chardonnay: the Tai (15%) contributes extra creaminess and savouriness that the Chardonnay alone does not provide, while the Sauvignon (5%) enriches the aromatic notes with the variety's characteristic herbaceous-citrus dimension.

This is a white wine designed for the terroir of Eastern Venice — a territory that the estate argues is comparable to Bordeaux in its combination of proximity to the sea, two great rivers, and position on the 45th parallel, halfway between northern cold and equatorial heat. The climate and the soil composition of this specific Tre Venezie territory give the Chardonnay a freshness and a mineral quality that warmer production areas cannot achieve, and the Tai and Sauvignon's contributions are proportioned to enhance rather than compete with that territorial character.

Minimum sulphites; direct control over the whole winemaking process from vineyard to bottle; the amazing purity in products that is Almivisi's founding commitment — all of these apply to Qorté with the same rigour as to the estate's serious reds.

Available through UniqueWines.