CONSORZIO TUTELA VINI SOAVE E RECIOTO DI SOAVE

It may astonish you to learn that the small, beautiful medieval village of Soave, surmounted by the Castle and surrounded by marvelous hills, is a real wine making giant. Those same hills, in fact, produce about 55 million bottles of Soave DOC wine every year (of which 15 million are of Soave Classico DOC wine). This quantity is possible thanks to almost 6500 hectares of vineyards where all of 2500 grape producers work. Incredible figures, both in absolute terms and when compared to any other DOC red or white wine which make Soave one of the greatest Italian vine-growing districts. And the Soave grapes are, obviously, very Italian, i.e. absolutely local: Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave. The first definitely represents the main vine species (the wine-making regulations establish that at least 70% of a Soave wine must be composed of Garganega) and has adapted perfectly to the hills of tuff soil of volcanic origin, yielding grapes that are not particularly aromatic but are definitely characteristic with a balanced acidity, extracts and sugar content. The Trebbiano di Soave grapes yield a full-bodied and meditative wine. While Soave can be produced throughout the 13 communes of the province of Verona, the Soave Classico can only come from the Soave and Monteforte d’Alpone communes. The classic type of cultivation is the so-called “Pergola Veronese” that modern cultivation techniques have perfected for the production of high-quality wines. Soave and Soave Classico are white wines suitable to complement any type of food: you can start with light fish hors d’oeuvres and finish with red meat, mature cheeses and Soave's ham. You will always find a Soave wine that will complement them perfectly, perhaps a Soave Classico that bears the name of the vineyard, called “cru” by the French, on its label. Important too, The Soave Superiore wine that can be produced in almost all the communes where the Soave DOC wine is produced and has even obtained the DOCG (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin) status. This is a very meditative wine that is produced in small quantities. The Recioto di Soave wine is produced in even smaller quantities and was the first wine of the Veneto region to have been granted the DOCG status in 1998. We are talking about a wine made from dried Garganega grapes that is born from the painstaking selection of bunches of grapes in the vineyard. These grapes are then left to dry in special rooms (called “fruttai”) for a time that can vary from 4 to 6 months. At the end, the grapes are left to slowly ferment and then to age in wooden barrels, sometimes for years. The Recioto di Soave wine is an ancient wine that modern cuisine has discovered to be perfect with many dishes, freeing it from its reputation as a wine solely for desserts. Join us on this journey into flavours accompanied by a bottle of Recioto wine: start with foie gras and patès, make your way through blue cheeses and strong cheeses and continue towards dry patisserie. It will be one of the most pleasant, and particularly tasty, journeys of your life.