Two Sides of Soave

Driving into the Veneto from the west on the A4 Autostrada, passing the exits for Verona en route to the turnoff for Soave, it’s not the beauty of the landscape that draws your eye. Rather, it is the massive factory complex belonging to Bolla that dominates the vista. Given the industrial wines being churned out of the region – all too often based on overcropped, dilute fruit – that view serves as a stark symbol of the fact that Soave remains a widely misunderstood wine. Even today, a couple of decades after the company’s huge marketing blasts of the 70s and 80s, the names Soave and Bolla remain inseparable in the minds of many.

When farmed well and cropped to lower yields, though, Garganega, the primary grape of Soave (it must constitute at least 70% of the blend in Soave per DOC regulations), is capable of expressing its inherent nobility. It’s also capable of turning out quite good and, more importantly, very food friendly wines. It’s also a vine, much like Chardonnay for comparison’s sake, that’s quite malleable in a winemaker’s hands.



Soave Classico “Monte de Toni,” i Stefanini 2006
$16. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Domenico Selections, New York, NY.
First things first – a little disclosure: this bottle came my way as a sample from my friend, the man behind Mondosapore and burgeoning importer of Italian wines, Terence Hughes. i Stefanini was one of the first producers to sign-on with Terry’s new company, Domenico Selections. Thanks T. Now, on to the wine….

At first, I found the aromas and texture of “Monte de Toni” a bit off-putting. Dense, lactic scents and waxy mouthfeel both suggested a heavy hand in the winery. Indeed, a look at the winery’s website comfirms that the wine is enzymatically clarified, goes through malolactic fermentation and rests on its lees until bottling in the spring following harvest. Nothing terribly aggressive there… the end result is a wine of low-medium acidity and medium body. With a little time in the glass, it actually gains lightness (I know that sounds contradictory but you’ll have to trust me) and reveals the typical Soave signature of bitter almonds with slightly vegetal accents. Baked apple and dried apricot fruit follow with that unmistakable lacing of blanched almonds shining through again on the finish.

Deterred as I may have been at first sip, in the end I had a hard time putting down my glass. And that’s a much more ringing endorsement than any technical specification can provide.

Soave Classico “Ronchetto,” Umberto Portinari 2005
$15. 12.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Petit Pois, Moorestown, NJ.
Umberto Portinari’s Soave “Ronchetto” shows a crisper, more mineral expression of Soave. I have no scheda tecnica for this, but at a year older than i Stefanini’s Soave, it’s still paler in color and has retained a livelier acid profile, both of which suggest a more reductive wine making regime, certainly in steel and perhaps with a partial suppression of the malolactic. Not nearly as richly flavored either, it’s one of the highest acid examples of Soave that hasn’t achieved its acidity at the expense of ripeness and character. White pepper and lemon zest dominate aromatically, while the palate delivers seashell minerality, lemony fruit and, again, a twist of bitter almond on the finish, all on a slightly angular texture. Very food-friendly, it would be a perfect foil to fresh water fish or vegetable risotto, even if a bit less quaffable than i Stefanini’s “Monte de Toni.”