Sandy Giovese 'Bianca Giovese' Vino Bianco

Sandy Giovese Bianca Giovese Vino Bianco is an organic field blend from the hills of Umbria, where Francesco Antano works vineyards planted to Grechetto, Trebbiano, and Sauvignon Blanc. The blend honors central Italy's tradition of white assemblage — varieties picked and fermented together rather than isolated, a practice that predates varietal bottling by centuries. This is the white counterpart to Antano's Sangiovese-based reds, made in the same hands-off style that defines the Sandy Giovese project. Francesco Antano farms organically in the clay and limestone soils southeast of Todi, where Grechetto has been Umbria's backbone white grape since the Middle Ages. Trebbiano adds structure and acid lift, Sauvignon Blanc contributes aromatic snap. The grapes ferment spontaneously with native yeasts in stainless steel, no additions beyond minimal sulfur at bottling. Antano's cellar work is minimal by design — the goal is to bottle the vineyard's snapshot, not to sculpt it. The Bianca Giovese sees no oak, no batonnage, no extended lees contact that would soften the wine's natural tension. The nose opens with white flowers and yellow peach, the palate delivering lime zest and a saline mineral thread that runs through the finish. It tastes like the dusty hilltop vineyard it comes from — bright, taut, unapologetically rustic. Pour it cold with grilled sardines, cacio e pepe, or a wedge of aged pecorino and olive oil. This is a wine for the table, not the tasting counter. It wants food, ideally something with fat and salt to play against the citrus acidity. Drink it within two years of vintage while the fruit still pops. Available for pickup at our Lincoln Park bottle shop at 1128 W Armitage Ave, local Chicago delivery, or nationwide shipping.