Tasting Notes: Ato Wines Gavi shows a bright, intense straw-yellow with green tinges, and a gentle shake of the bottle turns it pleasingly hazy, a direct nod to its unfiltered, unfined state. The bouquet is direct and pronounced, fruity in a way that stays close to Cortese's citrus and orchard-fruit character rather than reaching for polish. On the palate it turns very rich and well-rounded, with a natural, almost wild texture standing in for the crisper, more streamlined style Gavi DOCG is usually known for. Fermentation runs entirely on indigenous yeast from the estate's own biodynamically farmed fruit, and the wine is bottled with no sulphites added in any form, so its fruit and minerality arrive unmasked. At a modest 12 to 12.5% alcohol it stays light-footed even with real concentration and length, finishing clean whether it's poured settled and clear or shaken cloudy and more intense.
Estate History: This wine is one of the small-batch bottlings from Ato Wines, the personal project of Ato Spinola, made inside his family's Tassarolo estate, Castello di Tassarolo, at the heart of the Gavi production zone in Piedmont. Having grown up in the vineyards and cellar of the family property, Ato works with the same Cortese grape the estate has farmed biodynamically for years, but takes it in a more elemental, less-finished direction than the family's established labels. His stated aim is to rub the polish off Gavi — trading the variety's familiar, cleaned-up reputation for something rougher and more honest. Built on native-yeast fermentation, no filtration, and no added sulfur dioxide, and certified organic and biodynamic like the rest of the estate's production, it is Gavi stripped back to fruit, terroir, and time.
