Bacia, lecca, morde, picca e punge

Kisses, licks, bites, pricks and stings.

An ancient popular expression that has accompanied Vernaccia di San Gimignano for centuries. Simple, almost theatrical words that still describe this wine with surprisingly modern precision.

Because each verb seems to describe a precise sensation.

Kisses.
A soft, welcoming entrance, almost delicate.

Licks.
The sapidity that accompanies the sip and prolongs its presence.

Bites.
The freshness, the acidic tension, that vitality that keeps the wine from settling down.

Pricks.
The verticality, the nerve, the gustatory drive.

Stings.
A lively, saline, slightly bitter finish that lingers on the palate and immediately invites another sip.

Perhaps this is where the most authentic character of Vernaccia truly lies: in its gustatory restlessness.

Not a wine crafted to impress with easy softness or overly exuberant aromas, but a white wine that maintains a constant tension between balance and movement. A wine that changes in the glass, often opening slowly and sometimes revealing itself more fully after a few minutes of air.

Over the years, inevitably, Vernaccia has changed as well.

Modern cellar techniques, temperature control, increasing enological precision, and more careful vineyard work have made it possible to produce wines that are cleaner, more defined, and more expressive than in the past. Today, much of Vernaccia production follows organic practices and shows a growing sensitivity toward sustainability and respect for the land.

And this undoubtedly represents a positive evolution.

It would be too easy to retreat into the nostalgia of “things were better in the past.”
Especially because, quite often, they were not.

The contemporary Vernaccia is now able to preserve fruit, finesse, and overall harmony more effectively, avoiding those oxidized or rustic notes that could appear more frequently in the past.

Yet, while many modern wines seek freshness, momentum, and drinkability — sometimes by harvesting earlier and earlier to preserve acidity — Vernaccia seems to possess some of these characteristics naturally within its own DNA.

Perhaps this is also why today it feels more contemporary than it has been perceived for many years.

Even the territory itself seems to suggest it.

The hills of San Gimignano were once submerged beneath the sea. Even today, marine fossils, shells, and ancient sediments still emerge from the soil.
And perhaps that savory vibration found in many Vernaccias is not merely a poetic suggestion, but a deep memory of the land itself.

A trace that the wine continues to carry within itself.

Is it perhaps no coincidence that Vernaccia itself, a wine naturally endowed with tension and sapidity, is able in some of its interpretations — especially the Riservas — to express remarkable longevity and a notable capacity for evolution over time.

A characteristic not so common in the world of white wines.

Over the years, some Vernaccias develop greater depth, complexity, and unexpected nuances, while still preserving that vibrant backbone, that saline dynamism, and the tension that define their identity.

Perhaps it is precisely this gustatory energy that allows Vernaccia to dare at the table as well, going beyond many classic white wine pairings.

Where some softer white wines tend to yield to richness, soups, bitter components, or the more rustic side of Tuscan cuisine, Vernaccia often manages to retain momentum, balance, and remarkable versatility at the table.

It is a versatility that comes precisely from its nature: from its freshness, its sapidity, and from that gustatory restlessness that continues to run through it.

And so the question returns.

How much of that ancient definition is still present in today’s glasses?

Probably quite a lot.

Perhaps in different forms — more precise, more elegant, less angular.
Yet that subtle tension, that vibrant sapidity, and that lively, slightly bitter finish still continue to emerge in the most territorial expressions.

I believe, and I am convinced of it, that this is precisely the true charm of Vernaccia.

A wine that does not try to be accommodating at all costs.
A wine that preserves its own direction, its own personality, its own restlessness.

For this reason, “bacia, lecca, morde, picca e punge” no longer feels like just a curious phrase from the past.

It still feels today like a surprisingly vivid description.

Massimo Campolongo