WhiteLead grape in 2
Durella
The grape of the Lessini hills between Verona and Vicenza, grown on old volcanic rock. Its acidity is severe enough that still wine from it is hard going, so almost all of it is made sparkling, where that acid becomes the whole point. Green apple, citrus peel and a smoky, flinty edge, with real length.
Worth knowing
The name is from the skin, which is thick and hard. Both of its qualities, the tough skin and the acid, made it useful long before sparkling wine: it travelled and it kept, at a time when most whites did neither.
Where it is allowed2 appellations