** "Vermentino heights along the Italian coast | Wine critic"

I can't help but love Vermentino. Okay, so perhaps you don't necessarily have to love it. But if you, like me, prefer light to medium-bodied white wines that offer an attractive array of aromas, flavors and mineral textures that change with terroir and evolve over time, what's not to love here?

Need proof? If you ever find yourself on Italy's Ligurian coast near Genoa or near famous places like Cinque Terre or Portofino, order fried anchovies, calamari or a plate of spaghetti vongole with a good local Vermentino. You'll realize that paradise exists.

The Italian coast is the garden of Vermentino, especially Liguria and Sardinia, but also Tuscany and many other places where the sea meets the sun. A lot of Vermentino is also grown on the coast of Southern France, including Corsica, and the varietal is gaining more vineyards in Australia and California. Nevertheless, my favorite habitat remains Liguria, where Vermentino is not just another grape tree in the portfolio, but a star.

I recently returned there to visit Cantine Lunae Bosoni, one of the most consistently highly rated Vermentino producers in the Wine Spectator blind tastings I attended in 2016. Vermentino grown at high elevations in Liguria has more concentration, says Diego Bosoni, who has helped his family expand their hillside vineyards.