ELVINE

Elvine is the Chardonnay white of the Tenuta di Monastero di Aquileia estate — a wine produced from one of the world's most internationally celebrated white varieties grown in a territory of remarkable geological and climatic specificity. The estate's clay soils of alluvial origin, rich in mineral salts and caressed in winter by the bora winds off the Trieste Karst and in summer by the salt-laden breeze from the Grado lagoon, give this Chardonnay a mineral freshness and aromatic precision that warmer, more uniform growing conditions cannot replicate.

With more than one hundred and seventy years of activity across one hundred and thirty hectares — sixty under vine — the Monastero di Aquileia estate manages its Chardonnay with the accumulated knowledge of generations and the attention to individual plot characteristics that this scale of operation demands. Each plot's specific soil profile is accounted for in the pursuit of exceptional grape ripeness and wines of great elegance with intense aromas.

The wine spends time in barrique — a period of controlled oxidative development that integrates the variety's natural richness with the gentle spice and vanilla contribution of French oak, producing a texture the estate describes as velvety and rich. The barrique treatment gives Elvine a layer of complexity beyond what stainless steel alone would achieve, while the specific mineral character of the Friuli Aquileia DOC terroir — the bora wind-swept clay soils between the Carnic Alps and the Grado lagoon — remains clearly expressed beneath the oak's contribution.

Pale yellow in colour, with white peach and Golden Delicious apple on the nose, complemented by bread crust and vanilla from the barrique: these are aromas of considerable refinement. Round and soft on the palate, well balanced. Paired with fish dishes and white meats, especially sauce-based preparations, shellfish, and veloutés.

Available through UniqueWines.