Recioto di Soave Classico DOCG 2022 dolce

Guerrieri Rizzardi | Veneto
Guerreri Rizzardi Az. Agr. | Strada Campazzi 2 | IT 37011 Bardolino | Italien

03240222 · 0,375 l · 58,67 €/l · Price (DE) incl. VAT, excl. Shippingavailable immediately

Before there was Soave, there was this wine. In the fifth century, the Roman senator Cassiodorus praised a sweet wine made from dried grapes at the court of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric – acinaticum, the original form of what is now called Recioto di Soave. Fifteen hundred years later, in 1998, it became the first Venetian wine with DOCG status. And yet very few people know it. The story has been reversed: Amarone, which originated in the 1930s as a "runaway" Recioto – a barrel that accidentally fermented through –became a world star. Recioto, its ancestor, remained in the shadows. Guerrieri Rizzardi's version comes from old pergola vines in Costeggiola, planted between 1960 and 1998 on volcanic gravel. Only a third of the harvest is deemed worthy of drying in fruttaio for three to five months – a selection within the selection.

After more than eighteen months in small tonneaux, the 2022 shows what Garganega can do if given the time to transform: Apricot jam, candied citrus peel, honey, underneath that characteristic bitter almond note that never lets the sweetness tip over into pleasantness. With around 126 grams of residual sugar, it is rich but never syrupy – the volcanic minerality and the natural acidity of the Garganega keep the wine in a balance that is reminiscent of Italy's best Passiti. A wine from a time before time. Anyone who knows Recioto understands where Amarone comes from – and what it has left behind on its way to dryness. SUPERIORE.DE