Wines from Veneto

A top-class Valpolicella, fine and haunting spicy flavour with a full and fleshy fruit development of blackberries and cherries. Medium to full-bodied with good intensity and a firm tannin structure, with a wonderfully pleasant bitter note on the long finish. The delicious harmony between aroma and flavour is a delight. SUPERIORE.DE

In 2019, UNESCO declared the Prosecco hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene a World Heritage Site. Not because of the wine – but because of the landscape that produces it: steep moraine slopes, stepped in terraces, calcareous soil with marl and clay, lapped by a breeze from the Adriatic Sea. Villa Sandi cultivates over eighty hectares of its own land in this World Heritage area – and for decades has been one of the addresses that have secured Prosecco's reputation as a serious sparkling wine. 100% Glera, hand-picked, pneumatic pressing. Fermentation at a controlled 15–16 °C according to the Charmat method – gentle, flavour-preserving, typical of the region. The Millesimato is a promise of quality: The grapes from one vintage are so good that they do not need to be blended across vintages – they stand on their own every year.

The name is a reference: the Brenta, the river that runs through the Veneto region from the Alps to the lagoon – sometimes gently, sometimes with vigour. The wine is very similar. 55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon from the best vineyards of the Breganze DOC, on volcanic-tuff soil. Hand-picked, maceration for several days, fermentation in steel tanks. During ageing, the wine is divided: one half remains in steel, the other matures for twelve months in French barriques – one third of which is new.

A single-vineyard Soave as it should be: pure Garganega from vines over thirty years old on volcanic soils in Colognola ai Colli. The Castagnedi brothers press the whole grapes under nitrogen and use dry ice to preserve the aromas even before fermentation – a technique that demands precision and rewards character. Six months on the fine lees give the wine depth without taking away its freshness.

This wine embodies Stefano Inama’s vision of a terroir-driven Chardonnay that ventures off the beaten track. Whilst the winery enjoys worldwide recognition for its Soave Classico wines, this Chardonnay del Veneto embodies the winery’s experimental side – and impressively demonstrates that the region’s volcanic soils can also lend exceptional expressiveness to international grape varieties. The grapes come from vineyards in Soave and Monteforte d’Alpone, where a fascinating geological feature comes into play: as the estate’s only Chardonnay cuvée, this wine combines grapes from both volcanic basalt soils and limestone formations. This rare combination – volcanic lava meets sedimentary limestone layers – creates a complex terroir that lends the Chardonnay both mineral depth and structural elegance. Stefano and his now highly active sons, Matteo and Alessio, consistently avoid the use of oak – with the focus entirely on the purity of the fruit and the expression of the volcanic terroir.

Since the 16th century, the Allegrini family has been one of the driving forces behind Valpolicella. Then, at some point, the desire arose to produce a white wine from Lake Garda. The Tenuta Oasi Mantellina in Pozzolengo – on the southern shore of Lake Garda, in the province of Brescia – became their answer. The name reflects what this patch of land is: a natural oasis, rich in biodiversity, swept by the breezes of Lake Garda, set on clay-rich moraine soils that give the Turbiana its characteristic minerality. 96% Turbiana (Trebbiano di Lugana), 4% Cortese, hand-harvested in September, gentle pressing, stainless steel, four months on the fine lees, two months in bottle.

A wine that has voluntarily been downgraded. Munus was the flagship among Guerrieri Rizzardi's Bardolino red wines – a Bardolino Superiore DOCG, Italy's highest classification level. Since 2021, it has borne the seemingly more modest title of Rosso Veronese IGT. Not out of negligence, but out of conviction: the DOCG required at least twelve months' ageing in wood for every vintage, and Giuseppe Rizzardi decided that the wine itself should dictate the ageing process, rather than the regulations.

In the 1820s, wine merchants knew three Bardolino crus that existed in Switzerland's grand hotels alongside Burgundy and Beaujolais. In 1968, they were lost in the DOC regulations. They have been back since 2021 – and Montebaldo, the northernmost and highest subzone on the foothills of Monte Baldo, is perhaps the most exciting. Guerrieri Rizzardi's response to this rediscovery: 95 per cent Corvina – the highest percentage the winery has ever bottled –supplemented by a touch of Rondinella, vinified completely without wood. This is not a concession to light summer enjoyment. It is a statement about transparency: the grape speaks exclusively here, and the moraine soil of Cavaion gives it a resonance chamber.

Behind the Castello di Soave, invisible to the tourists enjoying the view of the plain, lies a vineyard that epitomises the opposite of what Soave has been for decades. No mass product, no compromise. Ferra is single-varietal Garganega from volcanic gravel – of a hilltop that has belonged to the Rizzardi family since 1977 and has been bottled as a single vineyard since 2014. What makes this Soave stand out from the standard, pleasing wines: Garganega gets the full stage here. Fermentation in glazed cement tanks preserves the mineral precision, while six months in large foudres give the wine texture, depth and richness that go far beyond what is expected from the appellation.

Whilst Andreola's Rive wines each bring a single vineyard to the glass, the Dirupo tells a different story: that of the entire Denominazione. For this Brut, Stefano Pola draws on the privilege of a network of vineyards stretching across all 15 municipalities of the Valdobbiadene DOCG – from gentle slopes at 200 metres to the extremely steep slopes at 500 metres, on calcareous marl, sandstone, conglomerates and deep clay soils. No other wine from the estate reflects the territory so fully. The choice of grape varieties underlines this approach: 90% Glera, complemented by Bianchetta and Perera – two indigenous varieties of the hills that have long since disappeared from standard Prosecco and which, as quiet contributors here, enrich the aromatic depth.

"I spent a long time looking for the area in Valpolicella that would best suit my style. Valpolicella Morandina is the freshest and sharpest interpretation of my red wines." Graziano Prà

If any wine has made an appellation world-famous, it is this one: Santa Cristina comes from the Vigneto Massoni, Zenato's oldest and most historic vineyard, which is regarded as the greatest site in the entire Lugana region. Here, on the calcareous and clayey moraine soils south of Lake Garda, Trebbiano di Lugana reaches its most elegant expression. The vines at Podere Massoni benefit from an ideal southern exposure: optimal sunshine during the day and cool nights from the lake. After gentle pressing, the must ferments for 15–20 days at a controlled 16–18°C, followed by five months of ageing in stainless steel and further bottle ageing.

On 12 May 1937, King George VI of England was crowned. At the coronation banquet that followed the historic ceremony, there was one wine on the table: Bertani Soave. Not champagne, not Bordeaux. Soave. From a house that, ever since 1857 – when Gaetano Bertani trained under Jules Guyot in Burgundy – had been committed to the belief that the wines of Verona need not shy away from comparison with the best in the world. The Original Vintage Edition pays homage to this heritage. Made according to the estate's traditional recipe, from vines on the western slope of the Soave hill north of the Castello, the historic heart of the Classico zone, where Garganega grows on volcanic-limestone soil and the air smells of old vineyards. 100% Garganega. Nine months in concrete tanks. Six months in bottle. The concrete preserves freshness and allows the terroir to express itself without overpowering it.

We are talking about the summit of the extinct volcano Monte Foscarino, 350 metres above sea level. Up here, where volcanic tuff forms the base and oak forests provide cool night breezes, one of Roberto's most precious treasures has been thriving since 1982. The Capitel Foscarino was already a legend when Roberto was still part of the Soave consortium – today it stands for pure typicality of the vineyard without regulatory DOC compromises. 90 per cent Garganega and ten per cent Chardonnay from horizontally trained vines that are rigorously thinned out in June so that only the most vigorous berries survive.

Mozart knew what he was doing. In the second act of Don Giovanni, his hero calls for wine – and it is the Marzemino that he desires: "Eccellente Marzemino!" It was to be his last indulgence before his just punishment. The variety, which is related to Refosco and Teroldego, has lost little of its seductive power since then. Maculan cultivates it in Fara Vicentino, on a vineyard called Cornorotto – volcanic tuff hills, mineral-rich soil. The grapes are lightly dried for a week before being placed in steel tanks – a quiet trick that brings concentration and depth without heaviness.

The three sisters from Fittà – Meri, Valentina and Alessandra Tessari – have turned the estate founded in 1982 by their parents, Giovanni and Rosetta, into one of the most respected names in Soave Classico. "Suavia" is the Germanic origin of "Soave" – the name says it all. Whilst their neighbours in the lowlands have long since succumbed to industrial pressures, the sisters cultivate exclusively the indigenous grape varieties Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave across twelve hectares at an altitude of 300 metres. Their vineyards lie on the volcanic hills of Fittà, on copper-red, black and grey soils rich in basalt and other volcanic rock. Here, where 50-year-old vines thrive on mineral-rich subsoil, wines of unmistakable expressiveness are produced.

Brigaldara's Ripasso is created by the secondary fermentation of Valpolicella wine on the pomace of Amarone della Valpolicella. The contact between the Valpolicella wine and the Amarone marc, which is still rich in sugar, triggers a new fermentation. Bright ruby red colour. Bright and cheerful with aromas reminiscent of dried cherry, plum, pear and apricot. This wine shows plenty of bright fruit definition with subtle hints of tobacco, spice and rose petal. The finish is smooth, polished and soft in tannin structure. Very structured and balanced, gaining complexity and finesse with further bottle ageing. SUPERIORE.DE

The ‘120’ in the name refers to the number of days: exactly 120 days of ageing on the fine lees following the second fermentation in the autoclave. In the Charmat method, this is unusual – a level of patience more commonly associated with the Metodo Classico, but which has been deliberately applied to Prosecco here. The name La Rivetta refers to Villa Sandi’s most famous location: its own vineyard in Cartizze, the Grand Cru of Valdobbiadene. The 120 does not come from Cartizze – but from the surrounding hills of San Pietro di Barbozza, on morainic soils with calcareous sandstone and clay. 100% Glera, hand-harvested, maximum yield 120 Doppelzentner per hectare. Gentle whole-bunch pressing, controlled fermentation at 15–16 °C – followed by the aforementioned 120 days.

The grapes for this Ripasso come from the Marne Bianche vineyard at Tenuta Maternigo – an estate that the Tedeschi family has been running for generations. Corvina and Corvinone (35% each), Rondinella (20 per cent) and 10% indigenous varieties such as Rossignola, Oseleta, Negrara and Dindarella grow here on moraine loam and limestone at a density of 5,500 vines per hectare. Vinification follows the classic Ripasso method: after 15 days' maceration at 28°C, the young Valpolicella undergoes secondary fermentation on the pomace of Amarone and Recioto – for eight to ten days at a cool 18°C. This second fermentation lends the wine body and depth without stifling its freshness. It is then aged for 15 months in Slavonian oak and a further six months in the bottle.