A fresh, elegant and beautifully mineral expression of 100% Cortese, Marrone Gavi 2024 captures the classic personality of one of Piedmont’s most celebrated white wines.
Bright and lively, with white flowers, crisp orchard fruit and delicate citrus leading into a clean mineral palate and Cortese’s characteristic almond-tinged finish. Marrone’s seven months of lees ageing with weekly bâtonnage adds subtle texture without compromising the wine’s freshness and precision.
The 2024 vintage was particularly successful for Piedmont’s white varieties, with Marrone specifically highlighting Cortese for its combination of freshness and balanced maturity.
Producer: Agricola Gian Piero Marrone
Region: Gavi DOCG, Piedmont, Italy
Grape: 100% Cortese
Vintage: 2024
Altitude: Approximately 300 metres
Exposure: South
Soils: Ferrous Clay & Calcareous Soils
Vines: Planted circa 1990
Harvest: Hand-Harvested
Winemaker: Valentina Marrone
Style: Dry · Fresh · Mineral · Elegant
The vineyard’s soils vary between ferrous clay and calcareous components, while its southern exposure and approximately 300-metre elevation help Cortese achieve ripeness while preserving the freshness essential to classic Gavi.
Nose:
Fresh and delicate, opening with white flowers, green apple and pear, followed by lemon zest, white peach and subtle herbal notes. There is an attractive mineral quality beneath the fruit that becomes increasingly apparent as the wine opens.
Palate:
Crisp and lively, with orchard fruit and citrus at the core. Green apple, pear, lemon and white peach are carried by refreshing acidity, while maturation on the fine lees contributes a subtle roundness through the mid-palate.
Structure:
Light to medium-bodied, dry and wonderfully refreshing. The combination of bright acidity and lees ageing gives the wine enough texture to work beautifully at the table while maintaining the energetic personality expected of Cortese.
Finish:
Clean, mineral and persistent, finishing with the classic almond character of Cortese that Marrone identifies as one of the defining characteristics of its Gavi.
The Cortese grapes are harvested by hand at the beginning of September before undergoing gentle whole-cluster pressing.
Fermentation takes place at a cool 15°C, helping preserve the grape’s delicate fruit and floral aromas. The wine then remains in stainless steel on its fine lees for seven months, with weekly bâtonnage, before being bottled under nitrogen to minimize oxidation.
This approach gives the wine greater texture and complexity than a very simple Gavi while deliberately avoiding oak, allowing Cortese, freshness and minerality to remain at the center of the wine.
The 2024 vintage was an excellent year for Piedmont’s white varieties, including Cortese.
The growing season began with an exceptionally wet winter and spring, with more than 900 mm of rainfall between February and June. Conditions became considerably drier and sunnier from mid-June through mid-September, creating favorable conditions for the maturation of white grapes.
Marrone specifically reports that Cortese, Arneis and Moscato performed particularly well in 2024, producing wines characterized by freshness and balanced maturity.
For Gavi, that is an especially attractive combination. Cortese benefits enormously from a vintage that preserves acidity while allowing sufficient ripeness to develop aromatic complexity and texture.
Marrone Gavi DOCG 2024 is a wonderfully pure and refreshing expression of Cortese—floral, citrus-driven and mineral, with a subtle almond finish and enough lees-derived texture to give the wine genuine presence at the table.
The excellent conditions for white varieties in 2024 make this an especially attractive vintage. There is plenty of freshness, but the wine should also possess enough fruit and mid-palate weight to avoid feeling overly lean.
Compared with Marrone’s Tre Fie Arneis 2024, I would describe the Gavi as the crisper and more mineral of the two: Tre Fie offers more peach, flowers and rounded texture, while the Gavi emphasizes citrus, orchard fruit, acidity and minerality.
For customers looking for a fresh Italian white to accompany seafood, this is an extremely versatile choice.
2026–2029
Gavi is at its best when its youthful fruit, floral aromas and mineral freshness remain prominent. I would therefore enjoy the majority of bottles over the next 2–3 years.
Serve at approximately 9–11°C. Avoid serving it ice-cold, as a little additional temperature allows Cortese’s delicate floral and mineral character to emerge.
Marrone Gavi is an exceptionally versatile seafood wine.
Its acidity and mineral character make it particularly good with oysters, ceviche, grilled fish, shellfish, seafood pasta and crudo, while the subtle texture from lees ageing allows it to accompany slightly richer dishes such as risotto and simply prepared white fish.
It is equally enjoyable as an aperitif, particularly with antipasti, fresh cheeses and lighter vegetable dishes.
For a classic pairing, I would choose grilled Mediterranean fish with lemon and extra virgin olive oil.
PAIR WITH:
Oysters · Ceviche · Grilled Fish · Shellfish · Seafood Pasta · Risotto · Burrata · Fresh Cheeses · Antipasti
