Vermentino

Vermentino is a grape that belongs to the sea. Wherever it grows best — the rocky coastal vineyards of Sardinia, the Ligurian cliffs above Cinque Terre, the sun-battered hillsides of Corsica — the Mediterranean is never far away, and the wine always tastes of it.

The origins are disputed in the way that most ancient Mediterranean grapes are disputed: some trace it to the Iberian peninsula, brought east by traders; others point to Liguria, carried south to Sardinia during the medieval period. What is not disputed is that Sardinia makes the most compelling case for ownership. The island's Vermentino di Gallura — produced in the granite-soiled hills of the northeast — is the only Sardinian white to hold DOCG status, the highest classification in Italian wine, and it earned that distinction on merit.

For most of its history Vermentino was simply the everyday white of the Sardinian coast — drunk young, drunk cold, drunk with whatever came out of the sea that morning. It was never exported in any meaningful quantity. It was never fashionable on the international circuit. It simply endured, quietly producing some of the most food-friendly, climate-appropriate whites in Italy, waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. In Manila's heat, the wait is over.