1997 Principessa Gavia Gavi, Villa Banfi ($12).

Gavi, the leading white wine of Italy's Piedmont region, is usually a rather dull, neutral wine. This dry wine is a spectacular exception. It displays excellent freshness, body and flavors of pear, lemon, herbs, minerals and slate. Amazingly, it had the guts to stand up quite nicely to pasta in a tomato sauce. It's good to see a major Italian producer such as Banfi taking white wine seriously. Drink this fresh, lively wine over the next six months.

Pub Date: 7/08/98