August 2025
The Month of
High Summer
Three white wines for the heat. A Soave Classico from the house that reanchored the appellation’s reputation. A Napa Chardonnay from a producer who chose Italian varieties instead. And a single-vineyard Sancerre built from chalk and silex.
Selections from a past month — availability may have changed.
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01
The Weekday Wine · Under $20
Pieropan Soave Classico 2024
Soave Classico DOC, Veneto, Italy
Lemon and honeydew, with the chalky-volcanic mineral grip that Garganega develops on Soave’s east-aspect hillsides. Pieropan is the family that reanchored Soave’s reputation when the appellation was associated with industrial bulk wine through the 1980s and 90s — they have been bottling Soave Classico since the early 1900s, and Andrea Pieropan continues the fourth-generation tradition. The 2024 is 85% Garganega blended with 10-15% Trebbiano di Soave, all organically certified, fermented in steel to preserve the fruit lift. The bottle to keep in the door of the fridge through August.
TASTING NOTES
Lemon, honeydew, chalky-volcanic minerality
PAIRS WITH
Grilled white fish, prosciutto melon
GRAPE
Garganega 85% + Trebbiano di Soave 15%
DRINK WINDOW
2025–2028
Vintage Context
Veneto’s 2024 was a cooler, slightly damper vintage than the heat-stressed 2022-2023 sequence — the kind of season that rewards old-school Soave restraint. Pieropan’s organic farming and east-aspect Soave Classico parcels weathered the cooler year well; the wine is more lifted and saline than the riper sister vintages.
Build the Board
via Murray’s Cheese
A weeknight board for a serious Soave — Tuscan rusticity for Veneto whites
Pecorino Oro Antico aged · Brooklyn Cured finocchiona · chestnut honey · Cerignola olives · Tuscan crostini
02
The Saturday Pour · $20–$50
Massican Hyde Vineyards Chardonnay 2024
Carneros, Napa Valley, California
Lemon balm, white peach, oyster shell — the cool-Napa register that Dan Petroski has been building since he left Saveur magazine to make wine in 2009. Hyde Vineyards is one of the most respected Chardonnay sites in Carneros; the cool San Pablo Bay marine influence keeps acidity intact even in warm years. Massican does no malolactic on this Chardonnay, fermented and aged in neutral oak — the result is a Chardonnay that tastes like a young white Burgundy and not at all like the heavy butterball Napa is known for. Petroski’s whole project is Italian-varietal Napa, but the Hyde Chardonnay is where his approach is most visible.
TASTING NOTES
Lemon balm, white peach, oyster shell
PAIRS WITH
Grilled lobster, summer corn risotto
GRAPE
Chardonnay (100%)
DRINK WINDOW
2026–2032
Vintage Context
Carneros 2024 was a long, even ripening season — the kind of year cool-climate Napa producers wait for. Hyde Vineyards picked early to retain acidity; the resulting Chardonnay has classic Carneros oyster-shell intensity without the heat-spike fruit that recent warm vintages produced at lower elevations.
Build the Board
via Murray’s Cheese
A Saturday board for cool-Napa Chardonnay — Northern Italian against California Italian
24-month Parmigiano Reggiano · Taleggio Ciresa · Robiola Bosina · Prosciutto di Parma 20-month · Speck Alto Adige IGP
03
The Splurge · $50+
Vacheron Sancerre Les Romains 2023
Sancerre AOC, Loire Valley, France
Crushed flint, white grapefruit, sea salt — Sancerre at its precision-instrument best, from the single-vineyard Les Romains parcel on pure silex soils. Domaine Vacheron has been certified biodynamic since 2005 (one of Sancerre’s first biodynamic estates), and the Les Romains bottling is their flintiest, most mineral expression. The 2023 is hand-harvested, native-yeast fermented, no malolactic — built for ten years in the cellar but already pouring beautifully now. Drink it cold and let the chalk do the talking.
TASTING NOTES
Crushed flint, white grapefruit, sea salt
PAIRS WITH
Goat cheese, oysters, herb-roasted chicken
GRAPE
Sauvignon Blanc (100%)
DRINK WINDOW
2025–2034
Vintage Context
Sancerre 2023 was the cool, late vintage Loire growers had been hoping for — a long hang time, classic Sauvignon Blanc tension, no need to chase ripeness. Vacheron’s silex-soil Les Romains parcel held its mineral grip cleanly; the 2023 has the kind of structure that ages over a decade.
Build the Board
via Murray’s Cheese
A Splurge board for biodynamic Sancerre — Loire goat cheese against Loire silex
Selles-sur-Cher AOC · Époisses de Bourgogne · Délice de Bourgogne · Jambon de Bayonne · saucisson sec
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“When the heat is on, the table turns white.”
— The TERROIR Editorial Desk
Producer Spotlight
Arianna Occhipinti
Vittoria, Sicily — natural-wine pioneer, founded 2004
Arianna Occhipinti founded her label in 2004 at the age of 22, fresh out of enology school in Milan and on a single hectare handed to her by her uncle Giambattista Cilia — one of the founders of COS, Sicily’s natural-wine pioneer estate. By 2009 her estate was certified biodynamic. She is now one of the most influential women in the natural-wine world.
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