Romano dal Forno was born in 1957, the only son of a family of small vineyard owners in the valley of Ilasi, in the east of Valpolicella.

Like many families in the valley, the Dal Fornos had always produced wine for their own use and sold the bulk of their grapes to the local cooperative. Romano was the first to bottle and sell wine under his own name.

When I first met Romano towards the end of the 1980s, we spoke at the kitchen table of his family home.

A flight of rickety steps led from the kitchen to the tiny underground cellar where Romano’s entire production was ageing in traditional casks.

A single light bulb dangled from the ceiling of the cellar – the scene was one which you would have found in the homes of countryside families the length and breadth of Italy in those days.

Passing in front of the Azienda Agricola Romano dal Forno today, the company headquarters could easily be mistaken for a rather grand 17th-century Venetian villa from the outside.

The architecture, along with the decor of the reception areas are of the era, however the grape-drying and vinification facilities are high-tech, with an array of equipment designed to the company’s own specifications.

The cellars go down three levels, and the vaulted barrique cellar alone extends for an area of 1,392m².

Valpolicella's best-kept secret

The vineyard area has grown from the original 7.5 hectares to 35ha, and production from 5,000 bottles a year to an average of 50,000.

The wines – which for most of the 1980s were Valpolicella’s best-kept secret – today enjoy iconic status.

The transformation of the azienda has something of a fairytale story about it, and in fact Romano himself says: ‘Sometimes, when I’m on my own in the winery, I wander around and I think to myself, how on earth did I manage all this?’

Romano made his first official vintage in 1983. He was 26 years old and recently married.

Bursting with energy, he was idealistic and galvanised by the dream of making quality wine. But breaking with the local cooperative was a giant step.

When Romano told his father he wanted to start his own production, his father took it badly. Where was the sense in setting up in competition with the cooperatives?

In the end his father acquiesced, but looking back now, Romano has to admit that he was right to be sceptical.

‘In the 1980s, the word “quality” did not exist in the Italian language. You had to produce quantity to get ahead’.

Learning from a legend

It was about that same time that Romano met Giuseppe Quintarelli, with whom he formed a lasting relationship.

The legendary Amarone producer was an inspirational figure for Romano, but when it came to making wine, he was determined to do it his way.

‘I didn’t want to be a copy of Quintarelli… I wanted to stand on my own two feet’, he says, continuing, ‘Giuseppe always used to say, “We have always made wine the way tradition commanded, and how it always has been”, but that jarred with me’.

Romano could not relate to a tradition that was not a part of him, but there was one instance at the start of his career when following Quintarelli’s advice proved to be a game-changer.

Quintarelli had suggested that Romano thin out the crop, which he did – not by removing whole bunches, but by cutting away the bottom of the bunch to leave only the wings, known as the ‘ears’.

‘I saw immediately that this was a good thing to do, but also very risky,’ he recalls. ‘The results were great when the weather held, but in years when it rained it was a disaster’.

Despite the risks, with this extremely rigid selection using only tiny bunches of the very best fruit, Romano was able to produce high quality wine.

This attracted the attention of an American importer and enabled him to enter the US market at the end of the 1980s, commanding prices well above the average for the period.

At this stage, no more than 5,000 bottles were being made from his 7.5ha of vineyard – around 3,500 bottles of Valpolicella and 1,500 of Amarone.

These drastically reduced yields and hyper-selection became hallmarks of the estate, but Romano knew that castigating the vines in a vineyard which was not designed for low yields was a compromise.

Following visits to France to study high-density planting, Romano planted a vineyard with 11,000 vines/ha in 1996, and over the next 10 years, between new acquisitions and the replanting of existing plots, he converted the entire estate to hyper-density, resulting in revolutionary low yields unheard of in the Veneto at that time.

Rethinking the process

The vineyard is the starting place, but it does not stop there. Romano likes to cite the late Carlo Petrini’s dictum that, ‘From great grapes you can also make excellent vinegar’, and the refinement of the vinification processes has played a crucial role in the evolution of the winery.

The distinctive features of Dal Forno’s wines – the purity of fruit, the dry elegance, the finesse of the tannins, and the extreme technical precision – can all be traced to specific innovations in winemaking over the course of time.

The fruit quality comes from the rethinking of the grape drying (‘appassimento’) process.

Romano recounts that in the first years: ‘Clients used to come to visit... and I would proudly show them grapes still laid out to dry in April. When I think about it now, I think, how stupid I was’.

The concentration that comes with appassimento is indispensable to Amarone, but over-long drying compromises the purity of the fruit, introducing notes of advanced evolution.

‘Appassimento isn’t like sending a school kid to do cramming lessons to make up for what he didn’t learn at school’, Romano notes. ‘It’s that extra bit of study that helps him to excel’.

Reducing the length of appassimento meant going back to the vineyard and picking later to have levels of ripeness which offset a shorter period of grape drying.

Grapes for Amarone now dry for no more than 60 days, and since 2001 the fruit for Dal Forno’s Valpolicella is pressed after 30 days.

Since 2020, production has been managed by Romano's son, Marco.

The second milestone in the forming of the house style was the development of a drier style of Amarone.

‘Amarone is an opulent wine; if it’s not opulent it’s not Amarone, but that opulence has to be supported by a freshness and sapidity that make it inviting to drink’.

Final tweaks

Obtaining the elegance of the style he was looking for meant reducing the residual sugar, but up until 1993, when he moved into new, purpose-built cellars, fermenting all the sugar out of musts with the massive concentration of partially dried grapes was problematic.

He says: ‘I remember that in the early years, not having the technology, nor the understanding of how to solve the issue, many vintages ended up with residual sugar. Perhaps some clients liked the old-fashioned style, but I didn’t.

'Amarone should have three or four grams of residual sugar, maximum five, but sometimes it used to go up to eight, nine or even 10 grams. They might have drunk all right when they were young, but with age those wines became fat and sticky’.

The ability to control the temperatures in the final stage of fermentation through underfloor heating in the new cellars was the piece of the jigsaw that completed the picture.

From the first vinifications in cement vats in the old family cellar, in order to get the textures he was looking for, Romano has always experimented with crushing, fermenting and punching down together in the same vessels.

When he moved into the new cellars he started experimenting with vinification in barriques.

‘I found out later that in France, Château Le Pin was vinifying in the same way, but I didn’t know that when I started,’ he recalls.

Romano was not satisfied with the initial results, but he learned from the experience.

‘In 1995, I constructed the prototype of a vat that reproduces the vinification in barriques, and from then on, it was plain sailing.’

Defending identity

I put it to Romano that there is great stylistic diversity in the Amarones produced today, and I asked for his views on the direction it should take in the future – should it try to accommodate modern tastes, or remain faithful to its origins?

His reply left no doubt about his convictions: ‘There is a theory among some producers that Amarone should become a wine to drink throughout the meal… but it has no sense.

‘Amarone is not an everyday wine. We are talking about wines with 16-17 degrees of alcohol. I can’t imagine an Amarone with 14 degrees. To go under 16% you lose concentration, you lose substance… If we turn Amarone into a vinello ('a little wine') what have we achieved? We’ve lost that identity that has brought us to where we are today.

‘When we begin to put into question emblems, Amarone and Recioto… we are destroying our history’.

Dal Forno Amarone in some vintages, such as the great 2011, has touched 17% abv and perhaps even a half a point higher, but the wines have always maintained that characteristic. The current aim is to stabilise at 16%, but not to go under.

Romano believes that accommodating Amarone to perceived commercial demand for wines to drink throughout a meal is a betrayal of its true character.

‘Reducing the alcohol, you have to press earlier and then you lose concentration and substance'.

A taste of precision

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For any wine region to be great, it needs a simple name. Just look at Bordeaux. Given its 65 appellations, having this one name is quite convenient as trying to remember all of them, save for a few of the most famous, is a tedious proposition.

The same can be said for Burgundy, the Rhône, Napa or a multitude of famous regions the world over. This is what makes the proposition of the ‘North Adriatic’ so appealing.

It’s a convenient shorthand for not just a very wide group of appellations, but also parts of three different countries, including northeast Italy and the western parts of Slovenia and Croatia.

When Paul Balke, author of the book North Adriatic, contacted me about a trip he was planning that grouped all of these regions into one much more digestible whole, I thought it a splendid idea.

I’ve been tasting them individually for nearly two decades and hadn’t really considered the fact that they are, to any wine drinker, far more comprehensible via this collective nomenclature.

While at first glance it may appear that this spaghetti of borders, rivers and small mountains has no cohesion, there are several aspects that bind it all together.

And, given that Croatia entered into the Schengen and Eurozone at the start of 2023, imagining that there is any kind of separation at all seems more artificial than the separation that was.

First and most important is the Italianate nature to everything. In ancient history this was all Roman, and in later history it was all Venetian.

It’s only during the last century that things have become a great deal more complicated, especially after World War II.

Despite this, almost everyone who isn’t Italian (namely Slovenes and Croats) does also speak Italian.

While this shared language and history is what we see on the surface, below there’s a vast stretch of flysch (charmingly known locally as ponca/opoka in Italian/Slovenian), a sedimentary mix of sandstone and marl that links the geology of the region.

Linked by separation

This novel new way to look at the region essentially has Trieste in Italy’s far northeast as its focus point and city, with Venice serving as the western flank and Rijeka, Croatia, as the eastern.

It would be easy to get bogged down in finite details across these various lands, of which there are 15 zones.

However, there are two core regions to the north and south that are the most important, as they both produce some of the most exciting wines: Colli Orientali/Collio/Goriška Brda straddling Italy and Slovenia; and Istria, which is mostly in Croatia, with a smaller northern segment in Slovenia and the smallest scrap just to the south of Trieste.

These two North Adriatic sub-regions perfectly embody a spirit of being ‘apart yet together’.

Prior to the imposition of the new border in 1947, Collio and Brda formed a single, coherent wine region, with the same flysch soils extending west into Colli Orientali.

Anyone wandering through these hills today could potentially cross the remnants of old, now-obsolete borders several times in a single day without noticing any real difference – aside from the reversed order of the bilingual village signs and the shared tourism branding of Collio Brda, marked by small shelters dotted across the region, ready for a selfie.

Split identities

Along these hills, one will find undulating waves of vines and, while both red and white varieties are planted, what’s most notable are the vines of Ribolla Gialla/Rebula.

While not planted as much as in the past, there has been a renewal in the last 20 years, with the wines ranging from a fresher style to full-on skin-contact orange, to sparkling wines that are really pleasing these days, such as the Kristalvin, Rebula Extra Brut.

The still wine producers – such as Movia or newcomers such as Ferdinand, both in Brda – are also excellent locales to visit.

Movia especially seems to have a steady stream of visitors, which should come as no surprise given the view from the terrace of the cellar.

While there is plenty of Ribolla Gialla in Collio, the Italian part of this common area, it’s with Friulano where producers seem to be excelling, especially from the likes of Renato Keber or Castello di Spessa.

There’s something of a branding issue with this white grape, however, given that it can be found labelled as Tocai (a name that had to be changed under EU regulations, due to its confusion with Hungary’s Tokaji – the luxurious sweet wine made mostly from the Furmint grape), as well as Friulano, Sauvignonasse and the particularly confusing Zeleni Sauvignon.

To the point of Istria

It’s difficult to leave the hills of Collio/Goriška Brda (a feeling I know well from many trips), but there’s much more to see in the North Adriatic region.

One can go west to regions that are much more plaindriven, especially in Friuli – the zones of Grave, Isonzo or Colli Orientali. In Friuli Grave, Udine is a lovely Italian city to visit, too; and, 10km to its east, the very historic town of Cividale del Friuli is a necessary stop.

Or you can head east, deep into Slovenia, winding along the 70km of the Vipava valley, with grapevines on the valley floor, castles high above on the hills and, higher still, the rocky Karst plateau, which is shared by Italy and Slovenia.

But once you pass through Vipava and follow the rear side of Trieste – a wooded world away from the busy Italian city and port – you arrive at the Istrian peninsula, which, like Collio and Brda, was a single contiguous region prior to World War II.

Wherever you are in Istria – from its Italian sliver at the northern end to Slovenia’s 43km of coastline and the vast bulk of land in modern Croatia – you’re far better off pulling back from the coast by some 10km or so.

The historic presence of Venice is clear in the lovely towns of Piran in Slovenia and Rovinj in Croatia, while the unmistakable imprint of the Romans is apparent in Pula at the tip of the peninsula.

Large-scale tourism, too, has left its mark along the entire coastline. This, however, is nothing new and, as such, the interior was long developed as a destination for boutique hotels, fine food and, of course, very, very good wines.

Both the flysch soils from the north and the Italian language continue into Istria.

In fact, schools in Croatia are bilingual, as are the street signs, and the local Croatian language is markedly different – more sing-song and melodic when compared with that spoken in the country’s capital Zagreb.

Heart of the peninsula

While roughly half of Istria is planted with vines, the most serious production and winery focus lies in the northwestern areas of Croatian Istria and, at slightly lower altitudes, in neighbouring parts of Slovenia.

Conveniently, this overlaps perfectly with the most scenic, postcard-ready parts of Istria, including the villages of Brtonigla, Buje, Grožnjan, Oprtalj and, perhaps most famously of all, Motovun.

Running around the bases of the hilltops these villages call home is an endless parade of vines. Istria is also refreshingly easy to understand from a grape variety point of view.

There are, broadly speaking, two principal grapes: the white Malvazija Istarska, and the red Teran (Terrano in Italy, Refošk in Slovenia – though the latter may be a close relative, rather than exactly the same variety).

Despite this shared varietal base, the resulting wines can show significant stylistic differences. This is worth noting, as in recent years, producers in Slovenian Istria have leaned more towards natural and low-intervention approaches, as seen at Korenika & Moškon.

This isn’t to say such practices don’t exist further south, but Croatian Istria retains a strong, studied Italian core of winemaking that has a tendency to keep things more tightly controlled.

Teran-based wines from producers such as Coronica and Cattunar rank among the stars of the region’s reds. On the white side, Coronica’s Gran Malvazija, Kozlović’s Santa Lucia and Clai’s Baracija Malvazija are all genuinely world class.

Of course, it would be remiss to focus solely on the wines. Truffles should also be high on the agenda – ideally grated generously over a steak at a fine konoba (a traditional tavern or small restaurant serving regional cuisine) enjoyed with an unparalleled view from the top of Motovun village.

A delicious slice of the Adriatic

Paul Balke proposes that the North Adriatic concept stretches as far as Rijeka and the nearby island of Krk.

There is indeed a shared history across these areas, but they lack the rolling, vineyard-covered hills that seem to define much of the rest of the region.

That said, it remains a sound concept. The core elements of wine, history and, for lack of a better word, an ‘Italian’ style feel broadly contiguous throughout.

Given how difficult it can be for neighbouring wine regions – let alone different countries – to work together in pursuit of a common goal, it may be some time before there’s greater alignment.

Still, for wine lovers who enjoy one part of this region, there is a great deal more to explore and enjoy across the North Adriatic as a whole.

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Friulano (once referred to as Tocai Friulano) is not the most planted grape in Collio.

In terms of surface area, it has long since been overtaken by Pinot Grigio, which according to the latest figures represents a 25% share of the grapes grown in the DOC.

Friulano, on the other hand, accounts for only 15% of the total, and with its 185 hectares ranks only third in the DOC hierarchy.

However, while it might not stack up the numbers in terms of total surface area, it is the most widely diffused variety – it is the one that every producer has, and the one with which Collio has always identified most closely.

While the Pinot Grigio from Collio travels the world, Friulano is a classic example of what used to be known as a ‘vino tipico’, a wine from a native variety with a long tradition and a distinctive character, but often with the commercial handicap of a predominantly local consumption.

You will find it chalked up on the board of every osteria in the province of Gorizia, but you are less likely to see it on wine lists outside the region.

Market research commissioned by the Collio consorzio in 2025 revealed that 40% of the Italians interviewed had never heard of Friulano, and a further 25% said they recognised the name but were not aware that the wine was produced in the Collio.

Friulano deserves better, because it has all the positives of a ‘vino tipico’: great personality, great sense of place, and producers who make it with passion and commitment.

Friulano's origins

The Italian origins of Friulano are shrouded in mystery, but they are relatively recent.

Little was written about this variety, commonly referred to as ‘Tokaj’ or ‘Tokay’, until the early- to mid-20th century, when it was found growing in the eastern plains of the Veneto and later in the hills of Friuli.

It was only in 1933 that the ampelographer Giovanni Dalmasso proposed the name, ‘Tocai Friulano’, to distinguish it from the Tokaj/Tokay (Friulano) grown in the near-by Veneto (where it is also still grown).

All the texts of the period refer to it as a foreign variety, but none hazard a guess at its origins.

That part of the mystery was resolved in the 1980s by the researchers Antonio Calò and Angelo Costacurta, who discovered that Friulano was none other than the Sauvignonasse or Sauvignon Vert once grown in Bordeaux, but long since abandoned in France.

How it got to Italy, perhaps nobody will ever know.

Style and character

Friulano is a vigorous variety, fairly resistant to most vine diseases, but due to its thin skins is terribly susceptible to harvest-time botrytis in rainy vintages.

It is potentially generous in its yields, and needs to be contained by short pruning and planting on lean hillside sites.

Picked at full ripeness and vinified conventionally, it makes a wine with delicate fruit, floral aromas which recall acacia and lime blossom, and a fingerprint note of bitter almonds.

It tends to have relatively low total acidity and high pH, with medium to high alcohol, all of which combine to give a glossy texture which is balanced by the minerally finish typical of the wines of the Collio.

The variety is very sensitive to location and harvest timing: higher, cooler slopes and earlier picking bring out the fresher, more Sauvignon-like side of its character, while warmer sites favour wines with more richness on the palate.

For the former style, look to producers from villages such as Ruttars and Dolegna; and for the riper, fuller-bodied wines, Capriva and Cormons.

And the perfect balance of the two? Perhaps the hilltop village of San Floriano.

Evolution

Collio is evolving, and Friulano with it. A young generation of producers is coming to the fore, (the newly-elected president of the producers’ consortium, Luca Raccaro, is the youngest ever in the role at 34) bringing with it new ideas.

Some of this change is seen in the new approach to vinification. The use of maceration for shorter or longer periods is increasing and this has prompted the recent decision to introduce the wording ‘Vino da Uve Macerate’ on the label.

The naturally gentle tannins of Friulano make it an ideal candidate for the style.

In another direction, there are producers who are moving to align with contemporary trends, aiming for a more reductive less aromatic style that’s drier, tighter, more mineral, and lower in alcohol.

These examples make a break from the rich and fleshy Friulano of local traditions.

Friulano and friends

But what if Friulano’s true vocation was not as a monovarietal at all, but as a component in a blend of local grapes? In the original DOC of 1968, headline billing was given to Collio Bianco – or simply Collio – a blend of Friulano with fellow native varieties Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia Istriana.

This time-honoured combination saw Friulano contribute the body, Ribolla the acidity, and Malvasia the structure and aroma.

The production norms were liberalised in the 1990s to allow producers to use any blend of non-aromatic grapes in a personalised estate wine, which had a logic in the international super-wine context of the period, but sacrificed any sense of place.

Those same norms remain in place today, but there are moves to find a path back to the original formula.

The impetus has come largely from a group of young producers who have agreed a protocol for a traditional blend consisting of a minimum 50% Friulano, complemented by Ribolla and Malvasia, aged for at least 18 months, and labelled with the phrase ‘Da Uve Autoctone’ (From Local Grapes).

The project currently has a dozen adherents, who between them produce between 110,000 and 120,00 bottles, a number which is beginning to give visibility to the group’s instantly recognisable labels.

Whether as a monovarietal or in a blend that highlights the terroir of the Collio, recent tastings confirm that Friulano has the quality and the character to play a leading role in the future of the DOC, not only at local level, but in much wider contexts.

Get a taste for Friulano with these 20 wines

Collio, a strip of land in the far northeastern corner of Italy, a border area, a crossroads of peoples, cultures, history and languages.

Sometimes referred to as Collio Goriziano after its main city, Gorizia, but usually simply called, Collio (and not to be confused with Colli Orientali del Friuli), the region is a key DOC within the broader area of Friuli-Venezia Giuli, and one of Italy’s easternmost wine regions.

Termed the ‘Gorizia garden’ because the producers treat the vineyards as they would their own gardens, Collio is a crescent-shaped hilly area located between the Adriatic Sea to the south and the Julian Alps to the north; bounded by the river Judrio to the west and the Isonzo to the east, with its northern edge comprising the border with Slovenia.

It enjoys an ideal microclimate in terms of ventilation and temperature range, with warm weather influences arising from the Adriatic and the Alps protect from colder weather intruding from the north.

Summers are not too scorchingly hot, nor are winters too bitterly cold.

The area also has a particular soil type: a marly-arenaceous flysch, known locally as ponca. This alternation of sandstone and marl gives the wines their unmistakable characteristics: notable sapidity, structure, freshness and longevity.

A land of white wines

The site of ferocious and bloody battles between the Italians and Austro-Hungarians during the First World War, today the peace and beauty of this unspoilt and authentic landscape is striking. There is no single-crop agriculture among these hills and the view stretches across rivers, mountains, pastures and woods.

The annual ‘Collio Evolution’ event – organised by the Collio producers’ consortium – is a tasting focused on the grape variety Friulano, the denomination’s native grape par excellence.

Collio is a land of white wines (and increasingly skin contact/orange wines as well), 89% of the production area is given over to white varieties.

Friulano is one of the standard bearers, but Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia Bianca are also widely planted. What few reds there are tend to be based around Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

While the region was pivotal in the popular rebirth of Italian white wines more than half a century ago, a subsequent downturn saw the denomination being overtaken by others.

However, Collio has everything it takes to regain its rightful place at the top of Italian white wines. Below are five examples made from Friulano that show what the region has to offer.

Collio: Five to try

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North Italy is a melting pot of cultures and landscapes. Flag-bearers for these northern regions include Barolo and Amarone, but there’s so much more to discover.

And with changes in winemaking and the impact of climate change, new opportunities are opening up for wines which previously languished in the background.

In an interview for Decanter with Tim Atkin MW all the way back in 2010, renowned winemaker Angelo Gaja declared that Italy’s future would lie with white wines.

But one grape variety he omitted to mention was Cortese, the most widely planted dry white variety in Gaja’s native Piedmont.

Let’s start there, therefore, and then look at six other exciting areas in northern Italian winemaking.

Gavi’s renewed ambition

Cortese’s finest expression is in the wines of Gavi and Gavi di Gavi, yet despite healthy sales in both the UK and USA, Gavi has not always been renowned for premium quality.

However, today’s warmer growing conditions combined with a greater belief in the area’s potential, and savvy marketing campaigns are changing all that, and the wines now are far better than they ever been before.

Alto Adige’s flagship white

Though not a native variety – and despite fierce competition – Pinot Bianco (aka Pinot Blanc/Weißburgunder) has become the standout white grape of the Alto Adige, with its magical combination of succulence, freshness and balance.

Versatility is key: whether producing excellent whites for youthful drinking and medium- to long-term ageing, or as the backbone of an increasing number of spectacular local blends, it is the default choice these days.

Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair and columnist Andrew Jefford agrees: ‘Nowhere else does Pinot Bianco like the Alto Adige!’

Sauvignon Blanc’s Collio renaissance

Sauvignon Blanc is a highly prized variety in neighbouring Friuli-Venezia Giulia, but the wines haven’t always lived up to their billing.

Rampant thiols (think passion fruit and cat’s pee) have too often obscured the strong sense of terroir typical in areas like the Collio with its distinctive ponca soils (mineral-rich marl and sandstone).

A less intrusive approach to winemaking favouring indigenous yeasts, slightly warmer fermentation temperatures, and careful use of large oak barrels is starting to have the desired effect and we are beginning to see more ripe, silky textures and salty, mineral notes in the finest examples of Collio Sauvignon.

Valpolicella’s fresh face

According to New Generation Valpolicella’s spokesman Piergiovanni Ferrarese of Villa Spinosa, one of the under-40s winemaker group’s main challenges is to lavish the same care and attention on the Valpolicella Superiore category that growers have previously saved for Amarone.

This frequently means dedicating individual vineyards to the production of Superiore, rather than creaming off the pick of the crop for the appassimento process, and using only freshly harvested grapes to make the wine.

Flying in the face of the success that the appassimento-based wines (Amarone and Ripasso) have brought the area, these wines focus on freshness and elegance – the two defining features of the best Valpolicella.

Schiava’s old vines

How gratifying to see a Santa Maddalena (and moreover, one with bottle age) reap a Platinum Medal at the DWWAs in 2025! The grape here is Schiava (aka Vernatsch), as it is for the Lago di Caldaro denomination which also claimed a Value Gold.

While many Schiava vineyards were pulled up in the 1980s to make way for white grapes, those that remain often have very old vines – some over a century old.

Could this much maligned local variety be about to challenge Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) as Alto Adige’s flagship red? Tastes change and sleek, light, aromatic reds are booming…

Nebbiolo’s Alpine alter ego

While we mainly associate the variety with Piedmont, the notion of Alpine Nebbiolo is gaining traction. Lombardy’s Valtellina remains an underrated and overlooked source of fragrant and elegant reds; the grape, known locally as Chiavennasca, offers the most Pinot Noir-like expression of the Nebbiolo variety.

Though fêted for Sforzato, which like Amarone relies on semi-dried grapes, representative examples from the lesser known denominations of Valtellina Superiore and Valtellina Rosso bring ethereal lightness, finesse and balance associated with Alpine reds to the party.

Add in spectacular, high altitude terraced vineyards with over 2,500 kilometres of dry stone walls and the mystery of why these delightful wines are not more highly sought after only deepens!

Asolo Prosecco’s Extra Bruts

Northern Italy’s most popular wine remains Prosecco. A lot of it is cheap fizz, bought and sold mainly on price, but Asolo Prosecco, for example, is really bucking that trend.

Many of them declare a vintage (versus Prosecco DOC, most of which is non-vintage) and the denomination is pioneering the Extra Brut category with between 0-9g/l of residual sugar – the driest category.

These Proseccos look and taste like the real deal, and growing numbers of estates are regularly achieving exemplary levels of quality. Tasting is believing and, as in Valtellina, the wines are living up to the promise of some outstanding vineyard scenery.

One feature unites these wines: they all share a tremendous sense of place. Great vineyards, attentive winemaking with minimal intervention and a return to the use of larger older, more neutral barrels for ageing are allowing wineries to concentrate on making their products stand out from the crowd.

It’s what makes Italian wine so exciting: its all-embracing diversity, once viewed as a source of confusion, has become its strength.

Get a taste of this year’s trends:

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Michael Garner, Andrea Briccarello and Jason Millar tasted 75 wines, with 3 Outstanding and 28 Highly recommended

Valpolicella Classico: Panel tasting scores

75 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 3

Highly recommended 28

Recommended 36

Commended 8

Fair 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release Valpolicella Classico red wines, including Rosso and Superiore

Scroll down to see the top-scoring wines from our Valpolicella Classico panel tasting

The effect of altitude

The Valpolicella Classico production area begins some 20km east of lake Garda, where the river Adige bends eastwards above Verona.

The Classico zone centres on three main valleys, running from west to east: Fumane (relatively tight, spicy wines), Marano (more open and vibrantly fruity) and Negrar (fuller-bodied and slightly rounder).

The further from the lake, the incrementally warmer the temperatures become.

The ‘altitude effect’ is omnipresent: in broad brushstrokes this means the higher the vines are grown, the lighter the body and the lower the alcohol, while acidity levels tend to increase.

Widespread appeal

This enjoyable tasting focused on two of the area’s five separate denominations: regular Valpolicella Classico (aka ‘annata’, the standard wine of the vintage) and the more ambitious Classico Superiore, which has higher alcohol levels and is aged for longer before release (minimum 12 months in all).

On the whole, the Classico Superiore wines fared better. Andrea Briccarello preferred the ‘much deeper and intense wines’, though Jason Millar favoured the more youthful style for ‘an irresistible springiness better enjoyed early than aged away’.

Something I noted myself was a clear difference between Classico’s youthful vigour and cherry-infused primary fruit sensations and the restrained, elegant and nuanced – even ethereal – characters of more ageworthy Classico Superiore.

Both styles nonetheless retain the freshness and balance that are the hallmarks of fine Veronese reds, and thereby offer ‘plenty of choices to the consumer’, according to Briccarello.

It’s interesting to note that most of the top-scoring wines were made solely from freshly picked grapes, rather than with a proportion of semi-dried (appassimento) fruit.

The latter is permitted by the DOC regulations but, in my view, it blurs the lines between Valpolicella and the appassimento-based wines of Valpolicella: Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto.

All three judges found the overall standard across these wines to be consistently good, with Millar maintaining that ‘Classico is one of Italy’s great affordable reds’.

What to eat with Valpolicella Classico, by Fiona Beckett

Valpolicella might not reach the heights of other Italian reds on its own merits, but as an accompaniment to food, it’s a charming and delicious companion.

It, of course, goes with antipasti and many pasta dishes – the surprise being how well it pairs with spaghetti al limone.

It’s also – and this isn’t to denigrate it – a great wine to drink with pizza and is particularly delicious with calves’ liver, including the classic fegato alla veneziana.

Taking it out of Italy, it’s one of those versatile reds that helps you out when everyone is ordering something different, as it also works with fish – even sushi for the lighter styles – and with a range of different vegetable dishes, including tricky-to-match grilled artichokes.

Given its cherry flavours, it’s a natural with duck, too. Try it with smoked duck – or smoked chicken come to that – or with soft cheeses, especially mozzarella and burrata.

Finally, and keep this in mind for Christmas, Valpolicella would be the perfect wine to crack open with a Boxing Day spread or a turkey sandwich!

See all notes and scores from the Valpolicella Classico panel tasting

The judges

Michael Garner is co-owner of Italian specialist Tria Wines and the DWWA Regional Chair for Northern Italy. He is author of Amarone and the Fine Wines of Verona (£35 Académie du Vin Library, 2017)

Andrea Briccarello is senior business development manager at Jascots Wine Merchants. Formerly head sommelier and wine buyer at Galvin restaurant group, and a brand manager for Bisol Prosecco, he is a DWWA judge for Northern Italy, Veneto and Piedmont

Jason Millar is a freelance wine writer, consultant, judge and communicator, with a focus on South Africa and Italy. He has a background in buying, importing and sales, and in 2016 was the top WSET Diploma graduate worldwide

Valpolicella Classico panel tasting results:

Wines were tasted blind

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National Prosecco Day is celebrated annually on 13 August, and what better way to join the celebrations than by popping open an award-winning bottle of the bubbles?

Recently announced, Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) 2025 results saw 173 Prosecco wines awarded a medal by some of the world’s leading wine experts, including one Platinum and seven Golds (two of which are Value Golds – wines under £15).

Well-crafted wines can be found from Valdobbiadene and Conegliano, with the Platinum medal (97 points) awarded to a wine from Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze and four Gold medals (95-96 points) awarded to Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore.

Scroll down to discover 15 top-scoring Prosecco wines from DWWA 2025

Established in 2009, and updated in 2019 to include the official identification of 43 hillside sites or ‘Rive,’ wines from this DOCG have attributed to the recent surge in Prosecco quality, accompanying this wine’s rise in global popularity. At this year’s competition, Nebbia, Brut, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore Rive 2024 received a Gold medal with 95 points.

But it’s not just quality to note of the top-scoring Proseccos from DWWA 2025 – there’s style to consider too, with various examples ranging from floral and fruity characteristics to savoury and nutty.

As a guide, in both Valdobbiadene and Conegliano, Proseccos tend to be more fruity in character, whereas to their west, the smaller DOCG Asolo Prosecco produces styles that are more mineral, savoury and linear.

For complexity, quality and a diversity of styles and sub-regions, the below 15 award-winning Prosecco wines from Veneto are well worth a try this National Prosecco Day and beyond. Discover many more on our results site at awards.decanter.com

What will you be toasting National Prosecco Day with? Share with us on social @decanterawards.

DWWA 2025: 15 award-winning Prosecco wines to try

Ruggeri, Brut, Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze 2023

Platinum, 97 points

Exuberant lemon blossom, ripe pear and apple aromas glisten over the creamy mousse which ripples elegantly through the palate. A fine tension of acidity adds to the charm and culminates in a lush tropical fruit finale. Alcohol 11.5%

Dei Vescovi, Brut, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore 2023 magnum

Gold, 95 points

Enchanting sweet florals, pears and citrus vibrate across the tangy palate, with a soft, supple mousse, salty acidity and freshly cut melon note to end. Alc 12%

Le Manzane, 20.10 Extra Dry, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore 2023

Gold, 95 points

A rush of green apple and lemon energy leaps over the nose and palate with a soft, bready note to follow. Creamy and fresh with a salty finish. Alc 11.5%

Montelvini, Collezione Serenitatis Extra Dry, Prosecco Asolo Superiore NV

Value Gold, 95 points

Delicate fresh green pear and apple infuse gently with the creamy abundance of the mousse, perfectly underpinned by a firm acidity and lush, sweet lemon length. Alc 11.5%

Nebbia, Brut, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore Rive 2024

Gold, 95 points

Scatterings of fresh herbs, jasmine flowers and lemon rind dance under the nose and linger over the fleshy nectarine palate. Long and vital with a fine perlage. Alc 11.5%

Spar, Extra Dry, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore NV

Value Gold, 95 points

Authentic and pure with green apple, lemon and pear fruits which merge flawlessly with the supple, orange blossom mousse. Zippy and crisp on the finish. Alc 11%

Terre del Cima, Extra Dry, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore 2023

Gold, 95 points

Brilliant lemon and apple flavours with hints of almond and bread. Dazzlingly fresh and limpid with a refined mousse and beautiful saline finish. Shows great typicity. Alc 11.5%

Naonis, Extra Dry, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore 2024

Silver, 94 points

Wonderful freshness and fruit with lemon and green apple characters leading on to a harmonious palate with a long, fine mousse. Alc 11.5%

Tenuta degli Ultimi, Biancariva Collalto Brut, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore Rive 2013

Silver, 93 points

A complex, mature style with lots of dried flower, honey and bruised-apple fruit. Very dry palate, fresh and structured, vibrant. Alc 11.5%

Andreola, Col del Forno Brut, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore Rive 2024

Silver, 92 points

Restrained aromatics of lemon rind, white flowers and pear. Complex and zesty on the palate with a fine mousse. Alc 11.5%

Biancavigna, Extra Dry, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore 2024

Silver, 92 points

Hints of alpine meadow and yellow fruit on the nose. Fresh notes of flowers, minerals and sea breeze with a lively finish. Alc 11.5%

Col Vetoraz, Dry, Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze 2024

Silver, 92 points

Fine bubbles and a citrus, acacia nose with pear and marzipan suggestions. Lovely texture, complexity and persistence. Alc 11.5%

Divigna, Valderustè Biologico Extra Brut, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore 2024

Silver, 91 points

Exuberant pear, blossom and white peach aromatics. Lovely purity. Bright and drier than expected on the palate; nice creamy mousse. Alc 11.5%

Luca Ricci, Le Fade Extra Dry, Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore NV

Silver, 91 points

Fragrant almond, lemon and subtle brioche notes on the nose. Elegant with subtle stone fruit characters and a mineral finish. Alc 11%

Sacchetto, Fili Prosecco Extra Dry, Prosecco NV

Silver, 91 points

Clean, floral nose with apple and elderflower characters. Rich and complex palate with fresh, linear acidity and good length. Alc 11.5%

Search all DWWA 2025 results

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In the beginning, there was only one Prosecco: Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene, recognised (initally as a DOC) by Italian wine law in 1969.

Served in households whose kitchen shelves boasted copies of late restaurateur Russell Norman’s Polpo, it broke into the UK as a cool, casual, unpretentious sparkling wine.

By the late 2000s, demand outstripped supply and in 2009, the original Conegliano Valdobbiadene region was elevated to DOCG status, along with neighbouring Asolo, while a new Prosecco DOC was created across a vast area of northeast Italy, running from Vicenza in the Veneto to Trieste on the Slovenian border.

Scroll down for Jason’s pick of Prosecco Superiore

Although the subsequent boom was good for producers in both zones, growers in the original heartlands are now increasingly concerned that their DOCG wines are being perceived as little more than higher-priced Prosecco DOC.

Enter Diego Tomasi, current director of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene consorzio, who has made it his mission to highlight the unique qualities of Prosecco Superiore DOCG and demonstrate what makes it truly superior(e) to Prosecco DOC.

Prosecco Professore

Quietly spoken and elegantly dressed, Tomasi brings with him a wealth of technical knowledge from a distinguished career in the prestigious Conegliano Scuola Enologica wine school.

Affectionately known as Il Professore, his work has demonstrated that complex soils, steep slopes, lower yields and hand harvesting make better wines.

‘Not all Prosecco is created equal,’ Tomasi says. ‘Prosecco Superiore comes from an old terroir. Glera is our indigenous variety and it has been here for 300 years. It is not like the DOC area, where other varieties were removed to plant Glera just because there was a market.’

Under Tomasi’s directorship, new initiatives are being enacted to distinguish Prosecco Superiore DOCG from the wines made on the plains, which are sold as Prosecco DOC.

It’s a challenge; consorzio data for 2023 show that the DOC produced 618 million bottles, overshadowing the DOCG’s 92.5m – meaning Prosecco Superiore is considerably harder to find than the ubiquitous Prosecco DOC.

Tomasi has devoted his professional life to this territory, however, and he is determined to try.

The Rive

One of his focuses has been the 43 Rive (pronounced ‘REE-veh’), created in 2009 when the DOCG was formed, and which currently make up about 4.2% of the vineyard surface.

All Rive wines must display both the name of the Riva and a vintage date on the bottle.

‘A Riva is a steep vineyard that has complex soils, lower yields and a unique microclimate,’ Tomasi says. ‘Only in these sites do we have the maximum expression of aroma.’

Demanding terrain

The vertiginous Rive vineyards are much less fertile than those on the DOC plains, meaning yields here are limited to a maximum of 13,000kg/ha, similar to (and in some instances, and particular sites, lower than) those in Champagne.

‘If you go over this, to 18 tonnes per hectare as in the DOC, you lose a lot of Glera’s flavour,’ Tomasi remarks. The landscape might be picturesque, but growing and harvesting grapes here is nothing short of heroic.

On these daunting slopes, it’s thought to take between 600 and 800 hours a year to work one hectare of vines, compared to about 150 hours on the mechanised DOC plains. Everything has to be done by hand and on foot, and vines are often planted on narrow, hard-to-work terraces less than a metre wide, known locally as ciglioni.

The value of the Rive isn’t just in terroir expression, but also as a focus for sustaining the agricultural heritage of the region.

‘The Rive express hard work, human tenacity, the beauty of the landscape and the union between the vine and its caretaker,’ Tomasi says.

A new approach

Beyond the vineyards, Prosecco Superiore producers are exploring more ambitious methods of making their wines.

While most Prosecco DOC is bottled within a month or two of fermentation, producers in the DOCG are experimenting with keeping the wine in contact with the fermentation yeasts for longer.

Extended lees contact, from four to six months, can ‘create aromatic complexity, harmonise the flavours and enhance the creaminess of the bubbles’, according to Tomasi.

At Ruggeri, winemaker Fabio Roversi has been experimenting with extending lees contact from several weeks, which is typical, to several months or more.

‘At the end of secondary fermentation, we have a resting period of the wine in the autoclave for up to six months, which adds a delicate flavour of breadcrumbs and yeast,’ he says. ‘We want to show how Glera can evolve and gain complexity.’

Nearly all Prosecco Superiore is made using the Martinotti method, which requires a second fermentation under pressure in a specialised tank called an autoclave. This process was developed in Conegliano, and was at one point as unique to Prosecco as the traditional method was to Champagne.

Prior to the production of the first Martinotti-method Prosecco in 1939, the wines were made according to the ancestral method, involving a second fermentation in bottle.

But unlike the traditional method practised in Champagne (also a secondary fermentation in the bottle), ancestral method wines aren’t disgorged of their sediment or given a dosage (the addition of sugar solution before the bottle is resealed), leaving them cloudy and often bone dry.

Growing in popularity

Since 2019, this method has been sanctioned in the DOCG under the name sui lieviti (‘on the lees’). Although current production volumes are comparatively small, Tomasi notes that interest is growing, as the wines lend themselves more easily to pairing with food.

Sales of this style were up by 5% in 2024, to 157,400 bottles, according to the consorzio. Producers such as L’Antica Quercia (above) believe that sui lieviti Prosecco can mature and improve in the bottle, just like a still wine.

Its ‘A’ 2020 is a convincing argument for this style. Reevaluating the received wisdom on lees ageing has also led producers to question the assumption that Prosecco is best drunk in the first year after bottling.

‘Prosecco Superiore can evolve pleasantly over three to five years,’ Tomasi explains. ‘The result is a more grown-up, mature version.’

Some producers now hold wines back in their cellars to gauge the evolution in bottle, although the early signs are that the sui lieviti wines offer much more character after a few years than Martinotti-method Prosecco, due to the preservative qualities of the lees and Glera’s delicate nature.

Evolving styles & pairing with food

In the past, Prosecco Superiore was predominantly extra dry, with a dosage of 12-17g/L balancing out naturally high acids to give an off-dry sparkling wine. This remains the most popular style, accounting for more than half of production, and there are many superb examples, such as the Giustino B from Ruggeri.

But a warming climate has delivered lower acidities than in the past, meaning that – as in other sparkling wine regions – there has been a trend towards lower dosage and a drier style.

Today, brut (theoretically 0-12g/L, but typically not below 6g/L) and extra brut (under 6g/L) are growing rapidly in popularity; according to Tomasi, brut’s market share has risen from 20% in 2014 to 40% in 2024.

Over the same period, extra brut has risen to 3% from almost zero.

Andrea Miotto (second generation winemaker at Cantina Miotto) suggests: ‘Although the extra dry is better for an aperitivo, brut is something that matches well with small, simple dishes. Think about the traditional food of Venice and try sardines, crostini or baccala [salted cod], or even some risotto.’

The next generation

Looking to the future, Tomasi is especially proud of a new initiative called the Young Club, founded in April 2023 and designed to bring together younger generations working in the DOCG.

‘We rely on their desire to improve, their sensitivity to sustainability issues and their ability to embrace change,’ he says. More than 70 individuals under the age of 35 participate, and members hold a variety of roles in the wine industry.

Anna Nardi, director and brand ambassador at Perlage Winery – an organic pioneer – is part of the group.

‘We want to bring fresh ideas and identify areas for improvement,’ she says. ‘It’s inspiring to see young minds collaborating to nurture historic denominations, and refreshing to see competitors viewing one another as colleagues and, often, friends.’

The group’s objectives are to enhance quality, improve communication and increase sustainability. Research trips to Champagne and Franciacorta have been organised, and market research is being undertaken to find out how young drinkers feel about Prosecco Superiore DOCG.

What’s in a name…

But there is one final challenge for Tomasi. The contorted, syncopated vineyards of the DOCG heartlands seem to be reflected in its tongue-twisting name: Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG – and that’s before you even add the name of the Rive.

Tomasi acknowledges that this creates the wrong kind of mouthful, even for native Italian speakers. Consultations are underway to find something catchier, without losing the word ‘Prosecco’, which has its historical origins in these hills.

It’s a slow process so, for now, the easiest way to rediscover the original Prosecco is to look for the ‘G’ in DOCG on the label, and experiment with the top-quality wines being produced under Rive designations.

Jason’s pick of Prosecco Superiore

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The Veneto produces more wine than any other region in Italy. Even with the downturn caused by adverse weather conditions in 2023, according to official ISTAT figures the Veneto vinified 10.6 million hectolitres.

The region used to compete with Puglia for record annual production, but these days there is no contest.

Thanks to the staggering 660 million bottles of Prosecco (source: Consorzio Prosecco DOC, 2025) and the lion’s share of the 250 million bottles of the inter-regional Pinot Grigio delle Venezie (source: Consorzio Delle Venezie, 2024), the Veneto makes almost double the production of the southern region.

Scroll down for Richard’s pick of wines from Veneto

But it is not all about volume and monoculture – there is also quality and diversity.

The Veneto has more DOCGs (14) than any other region and a grand total of 53 DOs for wines which range across the whole spectrum from still to sparkling, from dry to sweet, and from fresh and youthful to complex and ageworthy.

I went along to the AIS-Vinetia show to remind myself of this diversity and to catch up with what is happening at the quality end of Venetian winemaking.

AIS is the Assocazione Italiana Sommelier, and the Venetian delegation of the association publishes a critical guide to the wines of the region. They invite the producers featured in the guide to this annual event held in the province of Treviso.

2025’s bumper edition offered over 700 wines to taste from 130 producers, for the most part from small-to medium-scale wineries; some well known, others up and coming.

Slimming down

One of the takeaways from the show is that dry wines are getting drier, and this is particularly apparent in the wines made around Lake Garda.

The soft and fruity Bardolino Chiaretto of the past, for example, is being replaced by wines which are paler, crisper and made in a much firmer, reductive style.

The same is true for the white wines of Lugana, where the softening influence of residual sugar is much less evident than in the past, making for wines which are more food friendly and revealing a potential for evolution which makes Lugana one of Italy’s most interesting mature whites today.

Residual sugar is part of Prosecco’s DNA, but it is noticeable that in recent vintages, Extra Dry wines from the DOCGs of Valdobbiadene Conegliano Superiore and Asolo Superiore demonstrate much lower dosage than they had previously.

A trend towards dry styles has seen more production of Brut, Extra Brut and even Brut Nature, and is confirmed by the fast-growing number of bone-dry Sui Lieviti or Col Fondo – wines that have refermented in bottle.

The fashion for dryness, however, perhaps distracts from the real question of getting the right balance. A Cartizze with 17g/l of residual sugar can be as perfectly poised as an Extra Brut with a dosage of 2g/l. I pick out two examples of beautiful wines at the opposite ends of the sugar scale in my notes below.

The slimming down process is also apparent – in a slightly different way – in Valpolicella, where many young producers are moving away from the fleshy, full-bodied style of Superiore of the past by abandoning the use of partially dried fruit and returning to the vinification of fresh grapes.

This results in medium-bodied food friendly wines that bring out the floral-herbal side of the wonderfully versatile Corvina grape, and that have fresher fruit and more refined textures than we have seen before.

Altitude advantage

With a few exceptions (Lugana is one) the Veneto’s most interesting wines come from hill zones. Two from the south of the region that have not attracted a lot of attention in the past but are well worth checking out, are the Colli Berici in the province of Vicenza and the Colli Euganei in the neighbouring province of Padova.

Both have relatively small productions but growing environments and grape varieties which give them very specific personalities.

The Colli Berici DOC covers around 650ha of a high wooded plateau to the south of Vicenza, with dark ferrous, calcareous soils.

The climate is one of the warmest in the region, which favours the red varieties that account for over 70% of the production (and incidentally also the production of exquisite olive oils).

The Colli Berici is the only DOC in the region which includes a grape known to the national register as Tocai Rosso, but in fact is none other than that most Mediterranean of varieties, Grenache.

How it came to the province of Vicenza is something of a mystery, but one theory is that it arrived via contacts between the local bishopric and the Popes at Avignon in the period of the papal schism, which, if true, gives it a long history in the region.

The grape is used to make a wine called Tai Rosso or simply Tai (pronounced ‘tie’), which has the pale shade, the dark fruit and floral aromas, and the soft, round palate typical of the variety.

Made in stainless steel to drink young, it is a quaffer. Riserva styles aged in oak, on the other hand, are full-bodied, mouth-filling wines for traditional Italian Sunday lunches. I have included examples of both styles in the notes below.

Volcanic character

The Colli Euganei is an area of curiously shaped conical hills of volcanic origin that rise out of the plain of the Veneto to an elevation of around 400m.

The DOC zone lies in the heart of a 2,000ha nature reserve and the wooded countryside has a distinctly wild appearance that sets it apart from other, more densely planted areas of the region.

Merlot and Cabernet do well, but the eye-catching wines are the whites grown on the stony higher slopes, where the accentuated night and day temperature excursions favour fresh acidity and the development of complex aromatics.

Particular beneficiaries of the very specific terroir are two local biotypes of familiar varietes, Fior d’Arancio (Moscato Giallo) and Serprino (Glera).

Colli Euganei Fior d’Arancio has its own DOCG. It comes in various (probably too many) versions but the one to look for is the gorgeously aromatic passito, where the fresh acidity and the minerally finish set off the rich, tropical fruit sweetness.

Serprino can be spumante, frizzante or bottle-refermeted Col Fondo. This might suggest a resemblance to Prosecco, but the sparkling wine of the Colli Euganei has its own, quite distinctive character, with more delicate white blossom aromas, crisp acidity, and the tangy quality typical of volcanic soils.

Sweet delights

To conclude, despite the trend towards drier styles that I mentioned above, sweet passito wines remain one of the riches of the Veneto.

Every corner of the region produces them, from grapes like the Vespaiolo of Torcolato, the Garganega of Recioto di Soave and Gambellara, and the Fior d’Arancio Moscato of the Colli Euganei.

All are blessed with natural acidity to balance the accumulation of sugars in the long drying process. It is a niche of declining popularity, but how sad the region would be without those delicious half bottles!

I make no apologies for including three great sweet wines in my notes below.

Richard’s pick of Veneto’s viticultural riches:

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Michael Garner, Victoria Daskal and Jason Millar tasted 53 wines, with 19 Highly Recommended

Bardolino Rosso: Panel tasting scores

53 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 0

Highly recommended 19

Recommended 29

Commended 5

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest-release red wines from the Bardolino DOC and sub-zones La Rocca, Montebaldo or Sommacampagna, and Bardolino Superiore DOCG

Scroll down for the best-scoring wines in the Bardolino Rosso panel tasting

In the shadow of Valpolicella

The name is fashionable enough – the village is a popular tourist destination on the shores of Lake Garda in Italy’s central north – but the wines of Bardolino continue to live in nearby Valpolicella’s shadow.

These pale, unassuming reds are easy to overlook and offer a very different proposition from their neighbour, where wines based on the same grape varieties often derive from the appassimento process (in which grapes are dried prior to fermentation).

As such, Bardolino Rosso remains true to type and gives tasters an authentic expression of the lively red fruit characters and telltale twist of black pepper that define the Corvina grape.

As Victoria Daskal observed: ‘Bardolino flies under the radar, but it shouldn’t; bursting with sour cherry, pomegranate and floral notes, with its soft tannins and bright acidity, it’s a natural fit for hip wine bars.’

Jason Millar pointed out that, ‘[Bardolino] Classico did seem to perform better than basic Rosso; purity of style and often rather good value for money make the Classico zone the best place for wine lovers to start exploring Bardolino.’

Click here to see more results from the panel tasting

Zone in on the crus

The judges all agreed that many of the finest examples originated from the three ‘cru’ areas of Montebaldo, Sommacampagna and La Rocca. These various versions are united by their joyful freshness, easy drinkability and foodfriendly nature.

Think straightforward, fresh, zingy cherry- and almond-scented reds for the most part, and leaner, more fragrant and challenging examples, often with brief oak ageing, higher up the quality ladder.

These more aspirational – but still affordable – wines show greater elegance and ageing potential, while the simpler style is best drunk young.

All promise style over substance and remain reassuringly understated.

Thanks to their versatility, these Bardolino reds excel with lighter foods and it’s strongly recommended to enjoy them lightly chilled – a tip not only from the judging panel but also from many of the wineries themselves.

What to drink with Bardolino Rosso, by Fiona Beckett

It can help to think of Bardolino less as a red wine than as a dark rosé. Of course there are fuller-bodied examples, but most you come across will be best drunk lightly chilled. It’s basically a red that appeals to white wine drinkers.

That makes it a good match for antipasti, particularly salumi. It goes nicely with mortadella and Parma or San Daniele ham with gnocchi fritti (deep fried dough balls), which makes it a good wine for an aperitivo or a snack.

It’s also great with olives, fresh goat’s cheese and other young cheeses, and is a good pairing with polpettine (little meatballs) and pasta with sausage or pork cooked in milk. Think ‘white’ Italian dishes rather than tomato-based ones.

Being light, it’s also a perfect wine for an al fresco summer supper or a barbecue: a light salad of raw courgettes, tomatoes and basil for instance, followed by grilled lamb chops with herbs and fried potatoes.

Like other light reds, Bardolino pairs well with grilled or roast fish such as seared tuna, salmon or roast seabass, too.

Bardolino Rosso panel tasting results

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Michael Garner is co-owner of Italian specialist Tria Wines and DWWA Regional Chair for Northern Italy. He is the author of Amarone and the Fine Wines of Verona (£35 Académie du Vin Library, 2017)

Victoria Daskal is a wine writer, presenter, consultant and WSET educator. In 2008, she completed the OIV MSc in International Wine Management, and among others has since worked for Jancis Robinson’s Purple Pages and as managing editor of The World of Fine Wine

Jason Millar is a freelance wine writer, consultant, judge and communicator, with a focus on Italy and South Africa. He has a background in buying, importing and sales, and in 2016 was the top WSET Diploma graduate worldwide

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Mother’s Day falls on Sunday 30 March in the UK this year, when the trees are beginning to blossom, buds are breaking and there are signs of new life.

Flowers, plants and bulbs make for wonderful presents on Mothering Sunday, but your gifting skills can be elevated by a bottle or two of sparkling wine.

The list of recommendations below includes varying styles of sparkling wine from classic Champagne and Crémant to English sparkling and Prosecco. Prices range from under £20 to over £100.

Scroll down to see our selection of sparkling wines for Mother’s Day

Quick guide to sparkling wine styles:

• Champagne – Mostly made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, this must come from the French region of Champagne. It’s produced using the traditional method, with secondary fermentation taking place in the bottle.
• Traditional method – This refers to wines made using the same method as Champagne, where a second fermentation takes place in the bottle. The key examples are:
• Cava – Sparkling wine from Spain using both native grapes, such as Xarel·lo and Parellada, as well as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Reserva and Gran Reserva Cavas undergo extended ageing in bottle, bringing additional complexity.
• English sparkling wine – The cool climate and limestone soils in southern England are similar to those in Champagne, producing many fantastic sparkling wines.
• Franciacorta – From the northern Italian region of Lombardy, this serious traditional method wine can be both fresh and complex.
• Crémant – There are eight appellations in France where Crémant sparkling wines can be produced, and local grape varieties tend to be used. Examples include Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant de Limoux and Crémant de Loire.
• Other very good traditional method sparkling wines can be found in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.
• Prosecco – Made in the Veneto region of northeast Italy from the Glera grape, using the tank – or charmat – method.
• Pétillant naturel – This is in fact the oldest method of making sparkling wine, also known as méthode ancestrale. Unlike Champagne, the wine is bottled before it finishes its first fermentation, so the bubbles develop in the bottle. They can be slightly cloudy due to sediment, fairly low in alcohol, with a gentle fizz and sometimes a touch of sweetness. For the more adventurous mothers out there, what’s not to like!

At a glance: top picks for Mother’s Day

Top Champagne pick under £50:

Ayala, Brut Nature, Champagne, France

Top supermarket Champagne pick:

Alexandre Bonnet, Waitrose Brut, Champagne, France NV – £24.99

Top splash-out Champagne pick:

Champagne Stroebel, Pour Toi! Brut Nature, Champagne, France – £119

Top traditional method pick:

Clotilde Davenne, Brut Extra, Crémant de Bourgogne, Burgundy, France – £20.95

Top Prosecco pick:

Bele Casel, Col Fondo Agricolo, Colli Trevigiani, Veneto, Italy 2021 – £22

Top off-the-beaten-track pick:

Domaine Giachino, Don Giachino, Vin Mousseux de France, Savoie 2019 – £36

Sparkling wines for Mother’s Day:

The wines below were tasted by Decanter’s editorial team and experts.

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The story goes that, in the early 1960s, Charles de Gaulle, then president of France, was served a wine at an official dinner at the Gritti Palace in Venice which greatly impressed him. Convinced it was a Bordeaux, he asked the sommelier the name of the Chateau he was drinking, only to be informed that the wine he was enjoying so much was produced in Veneto, 50 kilometres from Venice.

When the producer, Count Piero Loredan, was informed of the General’s appreciation, he was understandably gratified and apparently exclaimed, ‘questo è un vino per capi di stato’ (‘this is a wine for heads of state’).

The name Capo di Stato stuck, and has been used ever since for Loredan Gasparini’s top Riserva, a case of which is sent to every new president of France.

Scroll down for notes on Capo di Stato from 1995-2021

Count Piero Loredan was a direct descendent of the Doge Leonardo Loredan (1436-1521), whose portrait by Giovanni Bellini hangs in the National Gallery in London. He was by all accounts a colourful and quixotic character, with a passion for falconry and wine.

He planted his first vineyard, which he called the ‘Vigna delle 100 Piante’, in 1946 with cuttings collected during his travels in Bordeaux, and subsequently began a production of what was one of the Veneto’s very first Cabernet/Merlot blends.

The Riserva Capo di Stato was released for the first time in 1964 and achieved a certain notoriety, not least through its presence at official receptions at the Loredan Gasparini residence, the magnificent neoclassical Villa Spineda. Following a series of vicissitudes, in 1973 Piero Loredan found himself obliged to sell the 30ha estate, which was purchased by a winemaker with a small property nearby, Giancarlo Palla.

Palla was joined in the late 1990s by his son Lorenzo, who subsequently took over the management of the estate and continues to run it today.

The setting

The main body of the estate is located in a tiny rural area with the wonderfully polyphonic name of Venegazzù, at the foot of the Montello, a long, low hill which rises from the plain in the shape of a turtle shell, to the south of the river Piave. Increasingly known today for its Prosecco Superiore, historically the ferrous clay soils of the Montello – and Venegazzù in particular – were renowned for the tangy intensity of their red wines.

It was this which prompted Piero Loredan to include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec in the Vigna delle 100 Piante, the two-hectare plot which is still the main source of the Capo di Stato.

The vines were planted on the high-trained and widely-spaced Bellussi system, a pruning method originally designed for the vigorous local Raboso variety and which has now almost completely disappeared.

For guidance on managing the anachronistic system, Lorenzo Palla called on now-renowned consultants Simonit & Sirch, who were at the beginning of their esteemed careers as master pruners. Their impact can be seen in the longevity of the vineyard.

Around 50% of the vines originate from the post-war period. When replacement is required, it is done by massal selection on the same rootstock used in the 1940s to maintain the unique biodiversity of the vineyard.

Yields in the Vigna delle 100 Piante are marginally higher than those of a modern guyot-trained vineyard, but the quality of the fruit is excellent and the Bellussi system does not suffer, but rather is advantaged by, the increasingly high temperatures of a changing climate.

The blend

Capo di Stato is made from a cuvée of approximately 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, supplemented by Merlot and limited amounts of Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Count Piero’s wines were aged in traditional large barrels, which the Palla family replaced with French oak. Annual production is around 20,000 bottles.

Originally released under the IGT Colli Trevigiani label, Capo di Stato now qualifies as Montello Asolo Rosso Venegazzù Superiore – Veneggazù being the officially recognised sub-zone of the denomination (and a monopole of Loredan Gasparini).

The romantic labels created in lithograph in 1967 by the Venetian artist Tono Zancanaro exist in two versions: the standard label shows a Bacchus figure facing left. A second version, which is only used in exceptional vintages and has become a collectors’ item, shows a female figure facing in the opposite direction.

The tasting

I had a rare opportunity to taste 20 vintages of Capo di Stato at the estate in January, and it was one of those experiences which leaves a lasting impression. The combination of the strong terroir, old vines and unique clones, not to mention the masterful winemaking of the long serving chef de cave Mauro Rasera, make for a wine with enormous, vibrant personality.

There are nuances in the way it responds to the vintage. In cooler years, wild berry and floral aromas come to the fore; in warmer ones, ripe red fruit and spices.

But the common denominators remain: great aromatic complexity, intensity in the mouth, where the acidity of the reds of the Veneto sets the tone, a long supple progression, and an underlying, tangy, mineral vein which is the signature of the red ferrous soils.

It is hard to imagine the wine that General de Gaulle tasted at the Gritti Palace all those years ago, but if he were alive today, I have no doubt he would be blown away by Capo di Stato, just as he was before.

Capo di Stato highlights: 1995 to 2021

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You might find yourself looking at a supermarket shelf lined with bottles of Prosecco – as one does – to find that some are labelled as frizzante (plural, frizzanti) and others as spumante (plural, spumanti). Are they any different? Are they both in fact Proseccos?

They certainly can be. But they are indeed different, with each term denoting certain technical and stylistic characteristics.

Frizzante (fizzy) and spumante (sparkling) are Italian terms for sparkling wines with different levels of effervescence, i.e. with a different amount and strength of dissolved carbon dioxide (released in the form of bubbles when the bottle is opened). Wines labelled as frizzanti are only gently sparkling, while spumanti wine has significantly more pressure and bubbles.

Although regulations can vary slightly within each PGI or DOC, general regulations – harmonised across the EU for analogous terms – are as follows:

• Frizzante wines have between 1 and 2.5 bars of pressure at 20˚C. They are, by law, defined and referred to as semi-sparkling, and classified and taxed as still wines. Frizzanti can be released to market on crown cap.
• Spumante wines have a minimum of 3 bars of pressure at 20˚C. For quality sparkling wine, for example, one with a PDO or DOC, the minimum pressure is 3.5. (Note that most quality sparkling wines – such as Franciacorta, champagne or crémant – are sold with a pressure of between 5 and 6 atmospheres). Spumanti need to be released to market under cork and cage due to safety requirements (crown caps would not safely hold the pressure).

How is frizzante made

The amount of fizz in a sparkling wine is determined by the winemaking method and the amount of sugar added for the secondary fermentation, if there is one (more on that below). The latter will affect the amount of sugar that the yeasts consume during alcoholic fermentation, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide that is trapped inside the wine. This is released when the bottle is opened, producing those delightful bubbles.

By controlling the length of the fermentation or refermentation, either in vat or bottle, winemakers can condition the final style of wine – the longer the fermentation (i.e. the more sugars consumed and more carbon dioxide released), the more bubbles the final wine will have.

Controlled refermentation

Frizzante wines are most commonly a result of second fermentation in tank, in what is called the charmat method. This is the process used for most Proseccos and, by arresting fermentation before all the sugar is transformed into alcohol, a less fizzy and sweeter wine can be produced.

If this refermentation happens in bottle – as per the traditional method – we have what is called a ‘Rifermentato in bottiglia’. These are often a bit cloudy given that the remaining dead yeasts are still in suspension inside the bottle – like in an undisgorged champagne. The increasingly popular Prosecco Col Fondo is produced this way.

In one go

Instead of a second fermentation, effervescence can be a result of a single fermentation completed in bottle – the méthode ancestrale (ancestral method) of pétillant naturel fame. This effectively entails the conclusion of the first alcoholic fermentation – partially done in a fermentation vessel and temporarily suspended (usually by cooling the liquid) – after the wine is bottled, to then trap some carbon dioxide during the conclusion of the process. These wines are also often left undisgorged (sui lievitti) and sold under crown cap. Prosecco Col Fondo can also be produced this way.

Moscato d’Asti, on the other hand, relies on a partial alcoholic fermentation performed under pressure, in tank, so that carbon dioxide is not lost. Once alcohol level reaches 5%abv, the liquid is chilled and filtered to remove the yeasts, thus producing a slightly fizzy wine with the natural sweetness of the unfermented sugar.

Carbonation

In the case of carbonation, winemakers simply need to control the amount of carbon dioxide artificially added to the wine to achieve the desired frizzante style.

Styles and regions to look out for:

– Prosecco DOC – although most Proseccos fall under the spumante category (and all those at DOCG level are required to be fully sparkling, unless they are Col Fondos), there are Prosecco Frizzanti and Prosecco Col Fondo

– Emilia-Romagna – Lambrusco

– Piedmont – Moscato d’Asti (taste an Asti Spumante alongside to fully understand the difference in fizz levels); Barbera Frizzante; Freisa d’Asti

– Oltrepò-Pavese – Barbera Frizzante

When to drink frizzante

Frizzanti are inherently drinkable and enjoyable, making for ideal aperitifs and party crowd pleasers. But they are also versatile food companions, due to their subtle fizz and – especially in the rifermentato, sui lieviti iterations – incredible texture. Lambrusco with cheese, charcuterie and/or pizza is a classical pairing, but try also a Moscato d’Asti with roast chicken or sushi, a Prosecco Col Fondo with grilled prawns or a chilled Barbera Frizzante with barbecued meat and/or vegetables.

And does the level of fizz change the flavour of the wine itself? Strictly speaking, the amount of carbon dioxide does not affect a wine’s flavour. It can, however, affect our perception of aroma and flavour compounds. On the other hand, frizzante is generally intended as a fresh, openly aromatic, fruit-driven style, markedly different from traditional method sparkling (such as Champagne or Franciacorta) in which secondary and tertiary aromas, derived from winemaking and ageing, tend to predominate. Frizzanti tend to be made from grapes with a distinct varietal flavour profile, purposefully kept through the production process, making them usually very tasty wines.

What is frizzante called outside Italy

Semi-sparkling styles are, of course, not exclusive to Italy.

Here is a brief breakdown of the styles and nomenclature in other countries:

– Spain – as vino de aguja – Txakoli, from the Basque country, produces great examples, with incredible mineral drive and salinity.

– Portugal – as vinho frizante – Vinho Verde is the quintessential example, producing gently prickly wines, both white and red, ideal for summer drinking. But the country is also producing exciting pet-nats, especially in the Tejo and Lisboa DOCs.

– France – as vin pétillant – gently fizzy Muscadet is an absolute classic, perfect alongside an oyster platter.

– Germany – as perlwein.

And of course Pét-nat (pétillant naturel), in France and beyond, has had an exciting comeback, now featuring in wine bars across the globe.

Six Frizzanti to try:

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La Poja is a single-cru vineyard at the top of the La Grola hill in Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella, in the Veneto region of Italy. The romantic explanation of the origin of the name is that it derives from ‘Pojana’, a bird of the falcon family which hovers over the crown of the hill.

More prosaically, it might come from the Longobard word which means ‘ploughed and cultivated land’, suggesting a long history of land use.

Tasting notes and scores for La Poja are listed below

The southeast-facing vineyard covers just under three hectares on the almost flat top of the hill, at an elevation of 320 metres above sea level. The stony, white calcareous soils have a high percentage of active limestone, with good drainage but also good water retention.

Sant’Ambrogio lies on the extreme southwest edge of Valpolicella, with a climate that is tempered by the vicinity of Lake Garda, a mere 15 minutes drive away.

Night/day temperature differences and the constant movement of air across the hilltop allow for late picking at full phenolic ripeness, with high sugar levels balanced by good acidity – in short, all the premises for concentrated wines, with great structure and complex aromas.

An ambitious project

Giovanni Allegrini bought the site and planted it in 1979, with a clear objective in mind. His ambitious project was to produce a wine that – in contrast to the long-standing practice of growing the prescribed varieties (principally Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara) together – was made from just Corvina.

This was revolutionary for the time, and La Poja would go on to break the mould of all the viticultural and winemaking conventions of Valpolicella in the 1980s.

Local producers would typically source three or more wines from the same plot: Valpolicella, Valpolicella Superiore, Amarone, probably a Ripasso, and possibly a Recioto, reserving the best grapes to make Amarone, and cascading down through the denominations to the basic Valpolicella for the rest of the crop.

Allegrini, on the other hand, was going to make a single wine from La Poja; a monovarietal Corvina with the same standing as Amarone, but using fresh and not dried grapes.

In the vineyard too there were radical departures from tradition. In place of the ubiquitous pergola veronese, the vines were guyot-trained, flying in the face of the received wisdom that it was impossible to curtail the natural vigour of Corvina with short pruning.

I recall Giovanni’s son, Franco’s cutting response to the criticisms of the training system, which encapsulated the provincialism of the Valpolicella of the period: ‘People say you can’t prune Corvina short,’ he said, ‘because they have never tried.’

Vinification of the new wine followed the conventional protocols of a top quality red, with around 15 days of skin contact, minimum filtering, and ageing in barriques, mostly new – Allegrini were amongst the first in Valpolicella to introduce small French barrels. La Poja was released after four years, together with the company’s Amarone of the same vintage.

But to set it apart, it came out in a unique and instantly recognisable tall, thin, long-necked bottle that made a powerful visual statement on the break with tradition. The same bottle shape has been used ever since.

Making waves

The first vintage of La Poja was 1983, and it was released onto the market during an exciting period for Italian wine in which new winemaking styles were emerging and the official hierarchies were being challenged by super-premium wines outside the DOC system.

In Tuscany, ground-breaking wines like Isola e Olena’s Cepparello and Fontodi’s Flaccianello were creating reverberations by abandoning the Chianti Classico DOC to make 100% Sangiovese Vino da Tavola.

Allegrini created similar waves with La Poja, which, like its Tuscan counterparts, was bottled as a Vino da Tavola because the DOC norms did not (and in Valpolicella still do not) allow for monovarietal wines.

After Giovanni Allegrini died in 1983, the La Poja project was taken forward in the same spirit by his oenologist son Franco, then in his twenties, and his brother Walter, an agronomist.

Franco sadly passed away in 2022 and, following an internal reorganisation, the company is now managed under the name Allegrini Wines by Franco’s three sons: Francesco, Matteo and Giovanni, together with their cousin Silvia.

In its youth, La Poja has all the hallmark aromas of the Corvina grape, from the typical black cherry, plum and violets on the nose, through to the almonds and savoury herbs of the finish. The fruit is very pure, and the oak is rarely invasive. With age, it evolves notes of pressed flowers and spices, and the tangy, minerally quality of the terroir comes increasingly to the fore.

The palate has density, but seldom gives the impression of being overweight, and for all its richness, it maintains elegance and drinkability – qualities we were able to appreciate during a vertical tasting of seven vintages held in Venice in September this year to celebrate the wine’s 40th anniversary.

Looking back at the project at a distance of nearly half a century, perhaps the most striking thing about La Poja is that, in a region in which the method of production defines the character of its most celebrated wines – Amarone and Recioto – it was conceived, ahead of its time, as a ‘terroir wine’.

Tasting Allegrini’s La Poja

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Michael Garner, Sara Bachiorri and Richard Baudains tasted 88 wines, with 3 Outstanding and 38 Highly Recommended.

Amarone: Panel tasting scores

88 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 3

Highly recommended 38

Recommended 36

Commended 9

Fair 2

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest-release vintage wines classified as Amarone della Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, or Amarone della Valpolicella Valpantena

Amarone has a clearly established identity as a round, full, soft and deeply coloured red, high in alcohol with a sensation of sweetness. Nonetheless, across the 88 wines on show, the panel found plenty of variables in terms of style and quality.

One of the most notable was just how much vintage matters. This tasting covered 10 different years: 2019 and 2018 accounted for almost 40% of the entries, with fewer from 2021 (six wines), 2020 (eight), 2017 (seven), 2016 (10), 2015 (seven), 2013 (three), and one wine each from 2011 and 2007.

Both 2019, a promising vintage that combines richness and freshness, and 2018 – more difficult, but with good levels of acidity – fared well, as, on the whole, did the highly touted 2016s and 2015s.

Scroll down to see the top results from the Amarone panel tasting

Maturity over youth

However, only three wines from 2020 and two from 2017 achieved Highly Recommended scores, with those from the latter just making it in at the lower end.

The three examples from the now fully mature though less widely acclaimed 2013 vintage garnered Outstanding, Highly recommended and Recommended scores, and the two older wines also received very respectable scores (2011 91pts and 2007 92pts); though completely ready, they all still had plenty to offer.

Unfortunately, the much-heralded 2021 vintage didn’t impress greatly at this early stage, and Richard Baudains warned that younger versions of Amarone with 14.5% or 15% alcohol can overlap stylistically with Ripasso and Valpolicella Superiore wines.

Provenance is another key factor. Nearly half of the entries came from the Classico area, just three from the relatively tiny Valpantena valley, and the rest from the easterly Orientale area. The Classico wines were the highest achievers, and the finest examples – with their broader spectrum of aromas and flavours – offer greater nuance.

Two of the three wines from Valpantena (typically slightly lighter but balanced wines) gained Highly recommended scores, while the Orientale wines (generally more renowned for their fuller, robust style) were more of a mixed bag on the day.

See all the wines from the Amarone panel tasting

A balancing act

The other major consideration is the role of alcohol and sugar levels. Excessive alcohol can be an issue – hardly surprising at up to 17% abv.

But as Sara Bachiorri noted: ‘We had wines at 15% where the alcohol was out of balance and felt higher than that, while others, perhaps at levels as much as 16.5%, felt perfectly balanced.’

Residual sugar levels are perhaps an even more contentious issue. The current trend to make a drier style of Amarone with as little as a couple of grams per litre of sugar aims to take the wine in a new direction, away from its traditional use as a vino da meditazione and towards a more versatile and food-friendly product.

However, the judges also found a number of entries in which sugar levels were questionably high.

Overall, while standards were encouraging, Baudains was left wanting more: ‘Amarone is a special wine. When it is less special and simply good, it is less Amarone.’

Amarone panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Michael Garner is co-owner of Italian specialist Tria Wines and DWWA Regional Chair for Northern Italy. He is author of Amarone and the Fine Wines of Verona (£35 Académie du Vin Library, 2017)

Sara Bachiorri is in the buying team at merchant WoodWinters. A DWWA judge for Northern Italy, she was formerly head sommelier at The Glasshouse in Kew then Chez Bruce in London, followed by a stint at Italian specialist merchant FortyFive10°

Richard Baudains is the DWWA Regional Chair for Veneto and a regular contributor to Decanter. He lives in northeast Italy, is on the Slow Wine Guide team for Friuli Venezia Giulia, and is a university wine journalism teacher

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Amarone is one of those wines which evokes different feelings in different people. Some may recall enjoying the rich, curranty fruit and warming alcohol in their favourite chair on a winter’s night. A vino da meditazione which needs no accompaniment.

Others may find that it’s a food-friendly wine perfect for drinking with roast lamb or seasonal game, and some enjoy the prestige of pouring Amarone for treasured guests.

But, equally, there’s another group of wine drinkers which is turned off by Amarone’s high alcohol and boisterous reputation.

And while an increasing number of winemakers are today dialling down Amarone’s excesses to make a more drinkable – dare I say elegant – red to appeal to modern sensibilities, debates in wine circles continue to rage about whether Amarone can stand up to long ageing, or whether it should in fact be drunk in its youth.

Scroll down to see notes and scores from an exploration of Tedeschi

At the beginning of the year, I travelled to Pedemonte, in the heart of the Valpolicella Classica zone, to visit family-run Tedeschi and taste some historical vintages of their Amarone.

And for me, these absolutely demonstrated that quality Amarone can age very gracefully indeed.

Origins in Valpolicella

The Tedeschi family has been in Valpolicella since 1630, and making wine since 1824. They have just opened their archive of old vintages to the public – some 27,000 bottles in total – of which the tasting room beneath the winery houses 6,800.

Lorenzo Tedeschi began producing a dry Amarone in the 1960s, at a time when it was little known and the sweet Recioto was still the typical wine of the region produced from semi-dried grapes.

In fact, it was only in 1990 that Amarone della Valpolicella DOC was allowed to be put on the label – previously, wines were labelled as Recioto della Valpolicella DOC Amarone (as seen in the image of the 1979 vintage, below).

Today, under management by Lorenzo’s children, Antonietta, Sabrina and Riccardo, Tedeschi makes several Valpolicella and Amarone from a variety of locations.

The wines

It’s not often you get the opportunity to compare not only older vintages of Amarone, but also different bottlings from the same producer, so this occassion was a fascinating insight into how these wines can evolve, and how differences in micro-climate and soils (and winemaking, of course) can play a role in a wine’s characteristics.

Over the years, changes have been made to enhance the quality of the wines. Winemaker Riccardo Tedeschi has shortened maceration times, and works with horizontal rather than vertical tanks, which he says preserve more structure in the wines.

He also uses three 25hl French oak casks and some old (up to 50 years-old…) Slavonian oak casks, as well as cement vats and ceramic eggs which impart gentle oxygenation without the tannins that wood imparts.

Marne 180

35% Corvina, 35% Corvinone, 20% Rondinella, 10% Rossignola, Oseleta, Negrara, Dindarella.

‘Marne 180’ refers to the marl (‘marne’ in Italian) soils of the Maternigo estate – situated in the hills on the east side of the Valpolicella zone at 250-480 metres above sea level. The name also refers to the 180° exposure of the vineyards there.

Made from a selection of favourable plots, Marne 180 is Tedeschi’s new ‘entry level’ Amarone (first vintage, 2015), aged in Slavonian oak barrels for around 30 months. Clay-rich soils with limestone, iron and manganese provide balance, energy and spice to the wines.

The estate now also provides the fruit for a single-vineyard Amarone Riserva, ‘Maternigo’ (not included in this tasting). So far, just two vintages have been released: 2016 and 2019, but the results are exceptional.

La Fabriseria

40% Corvina, 40% Corvinone, 15% Rondinella, 5% Oseleta.

La Fabriseria is sourced from vines grown on terraces on the hills of Valpolicella Classica on the west side of the denomination, between Fumane and Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella.

First produced in the 1983 vintage, just 10 vintages of this 2,500-bottle production have been released to date. These days, a portion of the bunches are left uncrushed, and it’s aged in Slavonian oak barrels for 48 months followed by a further 12 months in bottle.

Calcareous soils with iron oxide and some sandy elements over schist and clay are complemented by a dry and windy micro-climate, with large temperature swings between daytime and nighttime which preserve freshness and ensure optimal ripening.

Monte Olmi

30% Corvina, 30% Corvinone, 30% Rondinella, 10% Oseleta, Negrara, Dindarella, Croatina, Forselina.

The prestigious 2.5-hectare Monte Olmi vineyard, located close to the winery in Pedemonte di Valpolicella, in Valpolicella Classica, has been owned by the family since 1918.

Since 1964, Tedeschi has produced a single-vineyard Amarone – one of the first in Valpolicella – from this southwest-facing, dry-stone terraced vineyard.

It’s a traditional blend of pergola-trained Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Oseleta, Negrara, Dindarella, Croatina and Forselina, grown on red clay and limestone soils with some accumulations of gravel.

The wine spends 48 months in Slavonian oak barrels before bottling, where it spends another six months.

Amarone through the decades

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Prosecco DOC is Italy’s leading wine denomination in terms of both volume and value, producing more than 616 million bottles in 2023, according to annual data from the Prosecco DOC consorzio. And as its popularity continues to soar, quality remains impressively consistent. This year’s Decanter World Wine Awards saw a total of 75 Bronze and Silver medals in all awarded to Prosecco DOC & DOC Treviso wines (with one Gold, for the Il Colle, Prosecco Treviso Extra Dry), while the equivalent total at DWWA 2023 was 74.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 12 top Prosecco DOC picks

Representing the largest protected zone, covering 28,000ha across the northerly regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, the DOC wines are often overlooked in favour of those of the more prestigious Prosecco Superiore DOCG, from a smaller area that lies between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene in Treviso province. However, with fewer rules and restrictions under DOC regulations, growers are embracing the freedom and flexibility that come with the territory.

Evolving with consumer expectations and international preferences, Prosecco DOC wines are becoming drier and more nuanced, with better balance and a greater regard for terroir. Even more impressive is how winemakers are responding to the shift towards sustainable production of wine while continuing to retain affordability. Eight of the 12 wines that follow can be purchased for less than £15 a bottle, and all bar one below £20. Of these, a quarter are certified organic. Across the DOCs, meanwhile, more than half of producers express a commitment to reducing their impact on the environment and increasing their sustainability, either by launching their own environmental projects (such as La Gioiosa for Life), making use of renewable energy, or attaining sustainability certification via Equalitas, the national wine supply chain environmental body set up in 2015 by the Federdoc confederation and Unione Italiana Vini.

Indeed, on his recent election as new Prosecco DOC consorzio president, Giancarlo Guidolin of producer Viticoltori Ponte emphasised that key priorities for the organisation will involve ‘maintaining production quality, ensuring sustainability, and focusing on consumers and the local communities to which we are deeply connected’.

While Prosecco DOC remains a staple for celebrations, the quality of the wines listed below shows its potential for more than just parties. Our recommended selection includes wines from UK supermarkets, high street chains and independent merchants.

Prosecco DOC: A dozen standout buys

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In between still and spumante wine styles, frizzante used to be a staple of osterie and traditional trattorie in many regions of Italy. In Campania the bubbles softened the searing acidity of Asprinio; in the Oltrè Po they countered the harsh tannins of the Croatina grape; in Emilia they provided the perfect foil to the richness of the cuisine.

Frizzanti were traditionally made by simply bottling early with a little residual sugar and allowing the fermentation to finish in the bottle. Semi-industrial vat re-fermentation threatened to substitute artisan frizzante, but today it is making a robust comeback – ‘Pet-nat’ is trending.

One Italian online retailer lists over 200 ‘hand-made’ frizzanti, including examples from regions without a sparkling wine tradition, such as Sicily, Puglia and Sardinia.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 10 Italian frizzante wines

The process

If in the past bottle re-fermentation could be a haphazard process, today it is more controlled. There are two basic systems. The first, a variation of the traditional ‘ancestrale’ method, is to slow down the primary fermentation by keeping the wine at a low temperature before bottling it with the original lees and the residual sugar necessary to kickstart the fermentation.

The alternative is to ferment the base wine completely, add the dosage – usually using some unfermented must from the same grapes, stored at low temperatures – and then bottle. To all intents and purposes, it’s a short turn around metodo classico (traditional method) without the disgorgement.

An artisan frizzante will have a deposit at the bottom of the bottle, and if you tip it gently to put the lees into suspension, you get the slightly veiled look which is the hallmark of the category. A well made frizzante ticks a lot of the boxes of contemporary drinking: it is bone-dry by definition, low in alcohol, and seductively easy to drink.

It is not all about glou-glou, however – we are seeing an increasing number of wines with spontaneous fermentation and extended lees contact, making for a more complex wine with style-defining notes of autolysis.

The prerequisites for the base wine of an artisan frizzante are the same as those for a metodo classico – high acidity and low sugar – but interestingly, frizzante is almost exclusively the domain of native varieties: Glera, Garganega, Verdiso from the Veneto; Ribolla Gialla in Friuli-Venezia Giulia; Lambrusco di Sorbara, the semi-aromatic Pignoletto and the sharp and juicy Spergola from Emilia-Romagna.

Bottoms up

The biggest frizzante production comes from the province of Treviso in Prosecco country, where the style, known as ‘Col Fondo’ (literally ‘with bottom’, the bottom being the lees deposit at the bottom of the bottle) represents the rural tradition at the roots of the world’s favourite modern bubbly.

The Col Fondo version of Prosecco was excluded from the upgrade of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore to DOCG status in 2009, but reintroduced with the new name of ‘Sui Lieviti’ (‘on the lees’) in 2019. There was a catch, however – the Sui Lieviti category only applies to spumante, not to frizzante.

Consequently, a number of producers have refused to accept the new label to remain faithful to the traditional style of Col Fondo, and use a crown cap closure to visually distance themselves from Sui Lieviti.

Others have embraced the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG for their frizzanti. Do note, however, that the ‘Superiore’ name used for Prosecco spumante may not be used for still or frizzante wines.

Some names to look for are: Bele Casel and Bresolin from Asolo; Adami, Antica Quercia, Bellenda, Malga Ribelle, Malibran, Miotto and Spagnol from Conegliano Valdobbiadene.

Wild vines

The other frizzante stronghold in Italy is Emilia. The reputation of Lambrusco plummeted catastrophically as a result of industrial winemaking in the 1990s, but in recent years it has started to regain some of its rightful dignity.

Metodo ancestrale wines represent a drop in the ocean of an average annual production in excess of 50 million bottles [Consorzio Tutela Lambrusco] but they capture the authenticity of a deliciously zestful food wine.

Lambrusco can be made from half a dozen very different grape varieties. The pale Sorbara is the best known, together with the deep ruby and lightly tannic Grasparosso and the wild and brambly Salomino, but there are numerous variations on the theme in a region of great diversity.

In general the style is less leesy than the wines of the Veneto, with more immediate fruit. Alongside their charmat method Lambrusco, the following producers all make excellent metodo ancestrale wines: Bellei, Cantina Sociale di Carpi e Sorbara, Cavicchioli, Cleto Chiarli, Camillo Donati, Vittorio Graziano and Ermete Medici.

Serving suggestions

Serving and drinking frizzanti depends a little on the grape variety and the context, but with the exception of Lambrusco di Sorbabra – which demands an ice bucket – the wines are best cool rather than chilled.

Aficionados drink Col Fondo with the lees in suspension, but if you prefer them clear you can stand the bottle up for a couple of hours and pour carefully, or decant and leave the sediment in the bottle.

The white wines in general make a superb aperitif, but a bottle also disappears in a twinkling with tapas or the cicchetti of Venice. Lambrusco di Grasparossa and the red frizzanti in general are made to drink with rich pasta dishes (nothing beats them with lasagna) and if you find yourself in Naples, the only thing to drink with pizza is a light and spritzy Asprinio.

10 Italian frizzante wines to try:

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Champagne and Prosecco are two of the world's premier sparkling wines and they have some elements in common, but also important differences.

Geographical location, permitted grape varieties, production method and flavour profile all play a role in understanding these two wine styles.

Champagne comes from the eponymous region of northern France, to the east of Paris, while Prosecco is from the northeastern Italian regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, for instance.

What Champagne and Prosecco have in common

Let’s start with some similarities.

Both Champagne and Prosecco are permitted to make rosé sparkling wines; although Prosecco Rosé was only approved in May 2020.

Both are part of France and Italy's respective appellation (denomination) systems – ultimately overseen at EU level.

Vineyards have also been recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage sites. Champagne saw its hillsides, houses and cellars listed by the United Nations body in 2015.

Four years later, UNESCO listed the hillside area in north-east Italy that includes the winegrowing landscape of Prosecco DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita): 'Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene'.

Champagne and Prosecco grape varieties

Champagne can be a blend or single varietal wine, and the region's dominant grape varieties are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.

There are eight varieties permitted in total. These include Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, with 'Chardonnay Rose' joining the club last year.

Prosecco is made principally from the Glera grape variety, which must make up at least 85% of the blend.

The variety used to be called 'Prosecco' but its name was officially recognised as Glera in 2009, when the current Prosecco DOC and DOCG zones came into being and were recognised under the EU's Geographic Indications (GI) system.

The move caused a certain amount of controversy in other parts of the world.

Champagne and Prosecco: Production methods

Another key difference between these two wines is how they are made, particularly in terms of how the bubbles are created.

For both Champagne and Prosecco, the base (still) wine undergoes a second fermentation, creating the CO₂ that gives the sparkle.

Champagne is known for the traditional method, while Prosecco is generally produced using the 'tank method'.

In Champagne, the méthode Champenoise or ‘traditional method’ sees the base wine bottled along with yeast and sugars (liqueur de tirage), causing the second fermentation to happen in the bottle.

The wine is then left in contact with the dead yeast cells, so that it can mature. For a non-vintage Champagne the minimum time is 12 months (plus three further months ageing post disgorgement), whereas vintage Champagne must spend three years on its lees.

After this, the yeast needs to be removed. The riddling process rotates and tilts the bottle in small increments so that the sediment collects at the neck.

The neck of the bottle is then frozen and the dead yeast cells released – a process called ‘disgorgement’. Liqueur d’expedition (a mixture of wine and sugar) is used to top up and balance the final wine, in a process known as dosage.

By contrast, many Prosecco producers employ the tank method for the second fermentation.

Rather than being bottled, the base wine is placed in a pressurised tank to which sugar and yeast are added. CO₂ is created and the wine is then filtered to remove the sediment before dosage and bottling.

Champagne and Prosecco: Flavour profiles

These two methods of production can result in quite different flavour profiles for these wines.

The extended contact with the yeast in the traditional method can produce more autolytic flavours – bread, brioche and toast – in some Champagnes, for instance.

The yeast has less of an influence on Prosecco made with the tank method, because there is no extended lees contact.

Most Prosecco is more about the fruit flavour profile of the Glera grape – associated with pear, apple, honeysuckle and floral notes.

However, the wine world often defies generalisations.

Some top Prosecco styles are made with the traditional method or undergo lees ageing, which can result in a more complex wine.

Get first access to DWWA 2026 results on 17 June

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‘If you like off-dry, rich Amarones you are in the wrong place but if you like dry, terroir driven Amarones you are in the right place,’ stated Andrea Lonardi MW drily.

From its foundation in Valpolicella in 1857 by brothers, Gaetano and Giovan Battista Bertani, the Valpolicella estate has followed a different path. The inspiration? Burgundy, where Gaetano spent time in the 1850s training under Jules Guyot.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the eight wines in the Bertani masterclass

In 1860, when the tradition in Valpolicella was to produce sweet sparkling red wines, Bertani created a ‘secco’ dry red unique for its time. By 1870, Bertani was being awarded top medals at various wine shows, and by 1880, the wine was exported around the world. So atypical was this dry style that Bertani’s techniques were showcased at an Italian symposium in 1889.

The reputation for quality wine continued into the next century. At that time, Lonardi explained: ‘Bertani – both a grower and négociant – made white and red wines. Their Soave, well known for its quality, was served at the coronation lunch for King George VI of England in 1937.’ The estate did not rest on previous successes, however, and the desire to innovate remained strong.

The Tenuta Novare property, at Arbizzano di Negrar in Valpantena, was purchased in 1957, and in 1958, the first ‘secco’ Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella was made using natural appassimento.

‘The style at that time was still red wines with sugar,’ noted Lonardi, referring to the traditional Recioto wines. As a result, sales of this dry red wine were challenging, and consequently the estate accumulated many bottles, inadvertently creating what is, according to Lonardi, ‘one of the most extensive wine libraries in the world.’

The masterclass wines

The tasting began with three wines from the pre-alpine valley of Valpantena, located northeast of Verona and known for its fertile soils and sunny exposition. We started with a straightforward Valpolicella, which Lonardi noted as having a ‘classic character of sour red fruit.’

This was followed by a Ripasso and an Amarone. ‘I don’t like Ripasso, I feel that wine style is manipulated,’ declared Lonardi. ‘I understand why it is popular given its fruity expression but for me it does not express terroir.’

All three wines showcase Bertani’s winemaking style – unadulterated, with minimal use of oak and residual sugar.

The second part of the tasting consisted of cru (single-vineyard) wines sourced from the winery’s Tenuta Novare estate. The first, Ognisanti di Novare, is from a 2.9 hectare vineyard which takes its name from the 13th century church on the property. This west-facing vineyard spans eight terraces and consists almost exclusively of the local grape, Corvina.

I related to the audience how Andrea had once told me that he wanted Valpolicella to taste like the wine his grandfather used to make. This cru (along with another, called ‘Le Miniere’) reflects Bertani’s desire to showcase the region’s terroir, and the audience’s positive reaction to the wine would indicate that it clearly has a place in the market.

The next wine was Catullo Valpolicella Ripasso. Andrea did admit that he would drink this wine, despite not being a fan of Ripasso in general. ‘This is a contemporary wine, it’s not overly sweet and it has the crunchy texture that I like in a wine I want to drink.’

The final three wines were the stars of the show: three vintages of Bertani’s Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, each consisting of similar blends of the local grapes and being matured for over eight years in Slavonian oak.

As Lonardi related, ‘to understand Amarone wine styles is to know that appassimento originally started due to the limited ripeness of Corvina – partly drying the grapes helped increase fruit, colour and body of the wines.’

By law, the grapes can be dried in humidity-controlled facilities scattered around the region, but at Bertani they are dried as they were 160 years ago, in drying rooms (​​‘fruttai’) on the property, on bamboo racks, with the windows open to the elements.

‘I feel that drying the grapes this way expresses vintage variation,’ said Lonardi. ‘They are exposed to the natural elements of the vineyards: heat, wind and damp, which contributes uniquely to each wine.’

Only made in the best years, Bertani’s Amarones have changed little, even with a change of ownership in 2011. One modification made by Lonardi was topping up the barrels during maturation (allowed, in small quantities, by law). For Lonardi, topping up ‘keeps the wines fresher and less oxidated and more stable in bottle,’ counteracting volume loss from evaporation and therefore minimising the air space in the barrels.

The latest release, the 2013 vintage, was tasted alongside the 2008 and 2005. We were privileged to not only have Lonardi commenting on the 2013, which he made, but by pure chance, the winemaker of the 2005 and 2008, Cristian Ridolfi (now chief winemaker at Cantina Santi), was in the audience and was invited to stand up to offer his comments.

Which was the favourite? According to Lonardi, you need a library of vintages in order to be able to taste and compare Bertani’s Amarones over the decades. Each wine showed differing characteristics and were at different stages of their evolution.

The 2013 was very young despite its age, and still needs time, but both the 2008 and 2005 were drinking well and would hold up over the next 20 years or more – according to both Lonardi and Ridolfi.

Dry, succulent Amarones have not always been fashionable, but despite trends, Bertani has held true to its ethos created over 160 years ago. Tasting all of these wines was a refreshing reminder of why Bertani’s wines are coveted around the world.

The Bertani masterclass: Elegance in eight wines:

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Though Amarone may be easy to like, how to get the best from a bottle is not always quite so straightforward. Two major reasons behind its inexorable rise in popularity – a high alcohol content and its inherent sense of sweetness – can make the wine difficult to match with food.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 30 great Amarone for Christmas

Traditionally, Amarone was seen as a vino da meditazione, a wine to be enjoyed on its own, perhaps as a post-prandial tipple, much in the same way that a glass of port can round off a celebratory meal. As the wine to accompany a cheese board, it has few peers, and legendary producer, Romano Dal Forno believes Amarone is the perfect wine to enjoy with friends in a convivial social setting.

In order to meet burgeoning demand over the last couple of decades, production figures have soared, leaving producers with something of a dilemma. From a pre-millenium annual average production of around eight million bottles, to today’s – 18 million, Amarone is no longer a niche wine.

A drier approach

The current trend across a growing number of wineries is to reduce sugar levels to just a couple of grams per litre in order to make the wine more versatile and take on a wider role with food. Its rich, round and velvety palate with those enticing, spicy, dried fruit aromas and flavours that remain its distinguishing features immediately bring thoughts of game-based, festive dishes to mind. A slice of game pie or a hearty venison casserole, perhaps? Winter is certainly the right time of year for Amarone!

Amarone production

Production regulations allow Amarone to contain up to 12g/l of residual sugar at the minimum 14% abv (rising incrementally with higher alcohol levels) which, when coupled with an alcohol content of up to 17 or even 17.5% abv can result in something that simply overpowers most dishes.

A unique production methodology means that fruit destined for Amarone is dried for months on either the traditional bamboo racks know as arele, customarily on the winery’s upper floor for improved ventilation, or – more likely these days – in easier to sterilise plastic crates stacked high in large warehouses under carefully controlled atmospheric conditions.

Either way, up to 40% of the grapes’ weight is lost via evaporation of their water content through the skins, leaving highly concentrated juice which is then fermented slowly over many weeks as the sugars are gradually transformed into alcohol.

A protracted period of ageing, usually in wood, follows. Regulations state 24 months of ageing as a minimum, though many choose to extend the stay for several additional years until the wine approaches full maturity. Likewise, the bottled wine is frequently stored longer still at the cellars before release. Inevitably, the costs of such a painstaking process are high, a factor reflected in the final price to the consumer. Premium wines from hallowed names like Dal Forno, Masi or Quintarelli are correspondingly expensive and demand to be opened on special occasions.

A question of provenance

A further consideration when choosing the right bottle of Amarone is clearly the wine’s provenance. Three distinct production areas are designated: Classico (just east of Lake Garda), the valley of Valpantena (immediately north of Verona), and, further east again, Valpolicella Orientale, as it has now become known.

Many but by no means all of the finest examples of Amarone come from the Classico area which, as a rule of thumb, show an intense, spicy, aromatic style. Wines from the Valpantena valley, with its slightly cooler growing conditions, tend to be just a little lighter yet finely-balanced, while Amarone from Orientale can often be the fullest and most powerful style as temperatures further from the Garda lake tend to be a little warmer.

To take advantage of Amarone’s new-found glory status, a whole raft of new names has appeared in recent years, many of them smaller-scale, ‘artisanal’ producers making wine in highly limited quantities. Similarly, the movement towards the production of organic and, more rarely, biodynamic wines is on the increase as Italy cements its position as world leaders in the production of wines with ‘green’ credentials.

All things considered, the undeniable feel-good factor with Amarone makes it a top pick for Christmas!

Michael Garner’s 30 Amarone for Christmas

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The Italian word soave is most commonly translated as ‘gentle’ or ‘delicate’, and for decades most local producers crafted their wines in this fashion. If you wanted a pleasant sipping wine, Soave fitted the bill, but on the whole, typical examples were not particularly complex or structured for enjoyment beyond four or five years.

Soave to this day is still dominated by simple offerings, as cantina sociale (cooperatives) and large companies lead production, while even many smaller estates seem content to stay the course and not challenge the status quo. Thankfully, however, there are a few dozen artisan producers who realise the distinct qualities of Soave and are proving the potential of this vastly underrated white wine – let’s call this the ‘Soave Revolution’.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Hyland’s eight top Soave wines

Special slopes

Situated 36km east of Verona, the quaint town of Soave is the spiritual centre of a production zone which encompasses almost 6,500ha of vineyards that spread out north, west and east of the town. While wines sourced from outlying locations in this territory are labelled merely as Soave, it’s the Soave Classico district, which includes the communes of Soave and Monteforte d’Alpone (less than 10km east of Soave town), that is the source of the finest vineyards and the most exceptional producers.

Soave DOC at a glance

Area planted: Nearly 6,500ha in the Soave production zone, of which 1,400ha for Soave Classico; and Soave represents 2% of all Italy’s DOC and DOCG vineyards

Key grapes: Garganega (which makes up between 70%-100% of a wine), Trebbiano di Soave (up to 30%)

Growers: 3,000 (small estates, each averaging about 2ha)

Annual production: Soave DOC 30 million bottles; Soave Classico 9.33 million bottles

Exports: Soave DOC 48%; Soave Classico 61%

Source: Consorzio Tutela Vini Soave, 2022

One of these is Pieropan, currently managed by brothers Andrea and Dario Pieropan, who have continued the work of their late father and Soave legend Leonildo. Pieropan is known for its two exceptional single-vineyard Soave Classico wines: La Rocca and Calvarino. Andrea Pieropan notes that one of the problems facing Soave is with the labelling. ‘The co-existence of Soave Classico and Soave DOC makes all the projects of quality improvement less credible, as the wines that come from those different areas are deeply different,’ he says. ‘Soave could have a huge opportunity in these times, where markets are requiring more and more white wines from indigenous varieties, but this dichotomy is a burden within the appellation.’

The distinguishing feature of the Soave Classico district is its hillside vineyards, which Chiara Coffele, co-proprietor of her family estate in the town of Soave, notes were named a UN Food and Agriculture Organization Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2018 – ‘the first in Italy linked to viticulture’, she explains. The soils here are varied, ranging from volcanic (the area has several extinct craters) to limestone, alluvial and clay; the topography here is remarkable, with slopes from 10°-80°.

The principal variety in Soave is Garganega – the local disciplinare regulations require a minimum of 70% – while the other traditionally used grape is Trebbiano di Soave. Curiously, as much as 30% of the blend may be Chardonnay, while 5% of other white varieties can also be incorporated. The overwhelming majority of artisan producers use Garganega exclusively. A late-picked variety (mid-October harvest is normal), Garganega has good natural acidity – though not as high as other Italian varieties such as Vermentino, Verdicchio, Greco or Fiano – and is characterised by aromas of honeydew melon and pear, with a light note of almond.

At Le Battistelle in Monteforte d’Alpone, proprietors Cristina and Gelmino Dal Bosco discovered that the key to realising the maximum potential of the Garganega grape is reduced production. ‘In the Classico zone, it is impossible, even if you want to force the vineyards, to produce quantity.’ They produce several examples of Soave Classico, with their Roccolo del Durlo the most remarkable, the product of very old vines grown on a steep slope littered with basaltic rocks.

Local identities

To highlight the distinctive qualities and increase awareness of the Soave hills, an appellation system known as UGA (Unità Geografica Aggiuntiva, or additional geographical unit) was approved in 2019 after 15 years of research, and can be applied to wine labels from the 2019 vintage onwards. This is similar to the MGA organisation of Piedmont’s Barolo and Barbaresco – where specific delimited geographical areas can be mentioned on the label (there Asili, Brunate, Cannubi and so on) – and also the UGA arrangement in Tuscany’s Chianti Classico. In the case of Soave, there are now 33 UGAs, covering approximately 38% of the appellation – primarily Soave Classico as well as the Colli Scaligeri sub-zone in the western reaches of the territory.

Producers are divided on the worth of UGA for Soave. Gelmino Dal Bosco approves, saying: ‘It is a good method of understanding the differences across the soil of Soave, but I think this will be used for a very restricted group of people… in fact, there are too many UGAs, and a normal consumer can’t know these differences.’

Sandro Gini of the family estate in Monteforte d’Alpone thinks that, while UGA in Soave is a starting point, it’s not an ‘easy journey’, in his words. ‘It is not a highway to take by adding only the geographical name of origin to the label,’ he comments. ‘All growers must give the best of themselves, reducing yields, bringing each single vine into balance, promoting environmental sustainability.’ Coffele wonders why the UGA extend beyond the heart of the zone. ‘If I have to be honest, before the 33 UGAs I would have made a little more distinction between the Soave Classico of the hills and the Soave of the plain – but that’s another story.’

Pinpointing quality

Francesca del Cero of Corte Giacobbe , who produces an excellent Soave from outside the Classico district, is hopeful that this new approach will be a positive step forward for the entire appellation. ‘For us, it’s a good way to help people realise that there are great areas outside the Classico boundaries.’ She believes that additional promotion will help consumers understand the potential of this zone. ‘I think consumers will be prepared to pay more money for a cru Soave compared to a basic one, especially if they have the chance to try the difference.’

‘For young winemakers this [the UGA system] is an extra impetus to stay in the hills,’ concludes Gini. ‘They will certainly have the desire to change their strategy, improving the proposal and the image of Soave.’

Less than 25 years ago, the word Soave on a label was essentially considered a hindrance; so much so that at least one key producer (Anselmi) decided not to identify his wines using that name. Today, thanks to the vision of local producers who appreciated the terroir they work with, the finest renditions of Soave rank among the most accomplished of all Italian white wines. It’s clear the Soave revolution is paying strong dividends.

Six top Soave producers to know

Ca’ Rugate, Montecchia di Crosara

Innovator Ca’ Rugate crafts several wines, ranging from the steel-aged Monte Fiorentine to Studio, a 60% Trebbiano di Soave, 40% Garganega blend matured in mid-size French oak barrels.

Coffele, Soave

A small family-run estate in the centre of the town of Soave, Coffele is a consistent producer of understated Soave Classico. Coffele also bottles one of the finest examples of Recioto di Soave, Le Sponde.

Gini, Monteforte d’Alpone

Brothers Sandro and Claudio Gini are among the strongest proponents of Soave Classico as a significant white wine. Every wine they produce speaks of the local terroir, with striking acidity, notable texture and outstanding ageability.

Le Battistelle, Monteforte d’Alpone

High on the Monteforte d’Alpone hills, managed by Gelmino and Cristina del Bosco, this is one of the key artisan producers of Soave Classico. Its four estate offerings each give excellent harmony and typicity, with Roccolo del Durlo being among the most complex and remarkable wines of the appellation.

Pieropan, Soave

A family estate today managed by brothers Andrea and Dario Pieropan, who have brilliantly carried on the work of their late father Leonildo. The Soave Classico is always among the finest example of the vintage, while the single-vineyard wines La Rocca and Calvarino are pillars for the denomination.

Suavia, Fittà

Sisters Meri, Valentina and Alessandra Tessari manage this highly respected estate located on volcanic hills just north of the town of Soave. Their Monte Carbonare Soave Classico bottling has smokiness and minerality that give the wine a remarkable distinctiveness.

Hyland’s eight top Soave picks from producers shaping the future

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It started with a small handful of friends, who set out to rediscover the art of skin-contact white wine in the heart of Friuli. But the popularity of these characterful wines has seen this grow to a real movement, comprising dozens of strong-minded producers.

Thanks to pioneers such as Joško Gravner and the late Stanko Radikon, there is now a core of educated winemakers spread all around Italy, each making macerated whites with a distinct history and regional typicity.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Magnani’s six Friuli skin-contact wines to try

The Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy’s far northeast is the homeland of the country’s skin-contact white wines, and their proud producers are strongly attached to the local history and traditions. In these historically war-torn corners along the Italian-Slovenia border, in wine areas such as Collio, Carso and Colli Orientali, the technique of macerating white wines has been practised since at least the 19th century. But a century later, this traditional method of making whites, for private consumption or for selling to local restaurants, was no longer popular.

Between the 1960s and ’70s, certain Friulian estates such as Mario Schiopetto began using new technology to produce fresh, clean, aromatic wines, very different from the ‘old’ skin-contact style. Then, a decade later, Gravner and Radikon – two ambitious winemakers from Oslavia in the Collio – initiated a new era for the region’s traditional skin-contact wines.

Skin-contact wine: how is it made?

In the past, families macerated white grapes on their skins in order to help preserve the wine for longer periods, as tannins and other useful compounds leach into the juice. But today, the concept of making skin-contact whites has evolved. There’s a common consciousness that there are multiple aspects to producing macerated white wines which are effectively the same as if they were red: periods of harvest, grape varieties, duration of maceration, viticultural practices and winemaking.

Depending on the producer, the juice is left to ferment in contact with the skins for an extended time, with the ‘cap’ [mass of grape solids floating on top of the fermenting wine] being regularly punched down. During this period of maceration, the skins release tannins, flavours and pigments that deliver different tinges of colour, from golden yellow to deep amber. At the end of the process, the wines are aged for months or even years before bottling, according to the philosophy of the winery.

Old and new

Gravner, after a period following modern winemaking techniques to produce young, lively white wines fermented in steel tanks, decided that he wanted to achieve a more complex result. He began ageing his wine in French oak barriques – as in Burgundy, for instance – but then suddenly he switched back to his roots. His aim was to return to the authentic manner in which his father and grandfather had made wine.

In 1997, he vinified wines in large oak vats with 12 days’ maceration on the skins. A few years later he visited Georgia, where wine has been made with long skin maceration in conical-shaped clay amphorae (qvevri) for 5,000 years. Gravner in turn gradually introduced qvevri into his cellar.

In 2005, he released Italy’s first macerated white wines vinified in amphora: Ribolla Gialla 2001 and Breg 2001, a blend of Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Riesling Italico (last vintage 2012). Both wines spent about six months on the skins in amphorae buried underground, then aged in large oak barrels for several years before bottling without filtration.

Radikon also managed to increase sales in the late 1980s and early 1990s through wines made using a modern approach, before converting to a low-intervention methodology, opting to leave his thick, neutral Ribolla Gialla in contact with the skins for some days, just as his ancestors did.

In 1997, Radikon’s first Ribolla, macerated for one week on its skins, was bottled and sold. This wine was the precursor of the current long skin-contact Blu range, which undergoes up to three months of maceration. In 2011, Stanko’s son Saša Radikon decided to introduce a younger generation to the world of skin-contact wines, launching the new S line. Easier to approach and fresh – such as Slatnik, a blend of Chardonnay and Friulano – the wines in this range have shorter maceration combined with wood ageing.

It was by chance that Joško Gravner and Stanko Radikon rediscovered their tradition at around the same time, and with a measure of stubborn determination they put their wines on sale. After a period when they were considered as merely a disruption, the wines began to gain acceptance. Surprisingly, they first made waves in Japan, where the wines were perfectly suited to the delicate cuisine which is based on natural, healthy and pure ingredients such as rice, fish and vegetables. Then, gradually, also in the USA and UK, where sommeliers began including them on the wine lists of fine dining restaurants. Eventually, Gravner and Radikon helped the region’s skin-contact history become a globally recognised force.

Oslavia

In Oslavia, following Gravner and Radikon, other family estates with strong-minded visions of low intervention have focused on the old native Ribolla Gialla. The 10ha La Castellada estate, run by the Bensa family, still today makes 5,000 bottles of Ribolla. The wine macerates in oak fermenters for two months, then ages for 24 months in big wooden vats and refines in a stainless steel tank for a year without filtration. At Primosic winery, a significant production is based on macerated Ribolla Gialla, fermented in contact with the skins in open-top wooden vats for one month, followed by 24 months of ageing in big vats. Other local varieties such as Friulano and Malvasia Istriana, together with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio, are spread over the hills of Collio, where the soil is mainly a marl-clay called ponca. Around the villages of San Floriano and Cormons, passionate estates such as Podversic, Miklus, Terpin, Paraschos and Renato Keber have become devoted to macerated wines, based on a mix of the above varieties and often using organic or biodynamic viticulture with low-to-zero added sulphites.

Carso

Towards the south, on the limestone plateau of the Italian Carso near Trieste, Benjamin Zidarich and Paolo Vodopivec, following their families’ traditions, accomplished long skin maceration in their own way with Vitovska and other blended varieties. Today, Zidarich practises organic farming on his 9ha of vineyards. He makes the classical skin-contact Vitovska, and 1,000 bottles of Kamen Vitovska – Kamen means ‘stone’ – which ferments and ages in limestone vats for two years and shows a lovely spicy, mineral character.

Friuli winemaker Peter RadovičOther young estates have also begun to build a following, including the two wineries: Sandi Skerk and Matej Skerlj. The latter owns 3ha of organically farmed vines, including 1ha of high pergola-trained vines from which Skerlj made his first macerated Vitovska. Since 2018, Skerlj also macerates his Riserva 67, which spends one year in stone vats and one year in wooden casks. The latest arrival is Peter Radovič, who farms 1ha of mixed indigenous varieties. His wine Marmor is a 1,000-bottle production of Vitovska, and Malavizija is a similar quantity of Malvasia Istriana. Both are vinified with shorter macerations of approximately two weeks.

Colli Orientali

The varied world of skin-contact whites in Friuli is well represented in the hills of Colli Orientali. In this tiny enclave, noteworthy wine gems are Ronco Severo and Le Due Terre – both united in terms of organic farming but with different approaches in the cellar.

The fresh and complex Sacrisassi Bianco (70% Friulano, 30% Ribolla Gialla) from Le Due Terre shows a golden-yellow hue due to its two weeks of maceration in stainless steel tanks followed by ageing in barriques for 24 months.

The spicy and robust amber-hued Pinot Grigio from Ronco Severo ferments on its skins for one month, then stays on the skins in big vats for an additional 24 months.

In recent years, the skin-contact movement has seen a resurgence, not just in Friuli and surrounding areas such as Slovenia, but in other Italian regions, as well as in Georgia – the cradle of skin-contact white wines. Further afield, other countries are also absorbing such fascinating whites into their existing wine cultures.

Friuli skin-contact new wave: Magnani’s six to try

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The wines of Valpolicella have never been better. As more consistently warm summers in the north of Italy increase the likelihood of a fully ripe crop at harvest time in the Veneto region, so reliance on the appassimento process (the partial dehydration of grapes to produce wines of greater concentration and depth of flavour) begins to come into question.

Scroll down for Michael Garner’s pick of the best 18 wines from Valpolicella

Simultaneously, a market more receptive to distinctive wine styles based on local varieties, coupled with a growing confidence in their ability to express the unique character of their terroir, has enabled Veneto winemakers to scale new heights across the five denominations made in the demarcated area of Valpolicella.

The hillside vineyards north of Verona are beginning to show the true potential of the Corvina grape which, supported by Corvinone and Rondinella, as well as a host of minor varieties such as Molinara and Oseleta, determines the essential personality of these wines.

Span of styles

The ‘new’ style of simple Valpolicella DOC is all about authenticity: pale and fragrant, light-bodied reds whose zingy cherry fruit and crisp acidity are an ideal match for all sorts of foods, ranging from vegetable and simple pasta dishes to white meats, especially pork.

The Valpolicella Superiore version – because of an almost completely open-ended set of production regulations – can show huge variations in style. More and more winemakers are, however, resisting the siren call of appassimento and choosing to produce wines entirely from freshly harvested fruit (historically there has been no limit imposed on how much semi-dried fruit can be used). Crucially, producers are also starting to single out vineyards dedicated to the production of Valpolicella instead of creaming off the best fruit for Amarone, which was too often the case in the past.

The uniquely local custom of refermenting or macerating Valpolicella wine on the lees of either Amarone and/or Recioto (see below) is a traditional practice designed to boost richness and substance in the base wine. This ‘ripasso’ process – harking back to leaner times when nothing of any potential value was thrown away – had become so popular in recent years that it threatened to engulf both the Valpolicella and Valpolicella Superiore styles. Guided by the grower’s consortium, limits on the amount of fruit set aside for appassimento at harvest time over the past decade are designed to help even out production figures across the various denominations.

Amarone is produced from grapes naturally dried, to intensify flavour and sugar content, before fermentation and ageing for at least two years in oak barrels. Despite its fairly brief history (the first bottles were produced around the time of World War II), it remains for most wine lovers the reference point for Veronese reds. Even in this instance, we are seeing the emergence of a new breed of sleeker wines that are made to be less dependent on the generous levels of residual sugar permitted under current legislation, and which focus instead on a drier, more food-friendly style.

Meanwhile, Recioto – produced in similar manner to Amarone, rich and concentrated but fermented as a sweet style – is the ‘mother’ of all Veronese red wines upon which the area’s reputation was founded in Roman times. It remains a rarity, though many wineries keep the tradition alive and produce a few bottles.

History is turning full circle and Valpolicella is rediscovering its roots. The wines are beginning to recapture the style feted by Ernest Hemingway which, back in the mid-20th century, made them popular in the first place.

Michael Garner’s pick of the best 18 Valpolicella wines

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Different parts of Italy – as well as other areas of Europe – have faced severe storms, heatwaves, wildfires and floods so far in 2023, leading to devastation of infrastructure and loss of life in some cases.

In vineyards, extreme weather phenomena have added to winemakers’ concerns around the impact of climate change. Italy’s wine harvest may shrink in 2023, said agriculture group Coldiretti, citing recent storms and intense heat linked to climate change.

Extreme weather in Italy: A new normal?

Two anticyclones originating in North Africa – the first dubbed ‘Cerberus’ and the second even more ominously, ‘Charon’ – caused temperatures to soar across southern Europe in June and July, trapped under an oppressive and persistent heat dome.

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, parts of Greece, eastern Spain, Sardinia, Sicily and southern Italy reached temperatures in excess of 45°C.

On 24 July, a weather station in Sardinia recorded 48.2°C, close to the record-breaking 48.8°C recorded in Syracuse in Sicily in 2021.

The heat came as UN secretary general António Guterres declared, ‘The era of global warming has ended. The era of global boiling has arrived.’

In recent years, droughts and floods have also become more common in Italy. The 2017 vintage was notoriously hot and dry throughout large swathes of the country, while last summer, the government declared a state of emergency following the worst drought in the country’s history to date.

In the spring of 2023, flooding devastated parts of the country, particularly Emilia-Romagna, where half of the region’s average annual rainfall was reported to have fallen in just 36 hours.

Storms hit northern Italy

More recently, in July, severe storms swept through northern Italy.

Trees were uprooted in Trentino-Alto Adige and electric storms lit up Lake Garda on 24 July, the thunder still rumbling overhead well into the following day with outbreaks of hail reported in Friuli, Langhe and Roero.

The impact on vineyard areas remains uncertain. In its harvest forecast, Coldiretti said potential yields looked stable overall across Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto, despite the recent storms.

‘Northern Italy has been hit with a frequency of which there is no memory.’

Elisabetta Currado, wine & marketing consultant at Castello di Gabiano and Villa Cambiaso, both in Piedmont, told Decanter, ‘In a matter of minutes, hail can destroy a crop, sometimes even compromising production for the following years. From early July to the present, northern Italy has been hit with a frequency of which there is no memory.

‘You see these black clouds coming in carrying ice that falls, hitting random areas in spots depending on the currents that are created. It’s just a matter of luck. So far we have seen hail pass us by, but it didn’t hit us; we just held our breath until it passed.’

She added, ‘This summer, hailstorms struck at a stage called pre-closing bunch, and in other cases with the berries almost fully ripe (invaiatura). In half an hour of hail, water and wind, some [producers] were more unlucky – as happened in some areas of the Langhe and Roero, where they completely lost production.’

Eduard Bernhart, director of the Südtirol Wein / Vini Alto Adige consortium, told Decanter, ‘We had some hail… everywhere a little bit, but not huge damage at the moment.’

Mildew pressure

For some vineyards in Sicily, mildew has been a significant issue following heavy rain in May and June. The island claims the largest surface area of organically farmed vines in Italy, which makes disease pressure, such as downy mildew, harder to control, and although the subsequent period of extreme heat saved bunches, for others it was too late.

Benjamin Franchetti, of Passopisciaro on Etna, and also Tenuta di Trinoro in Val d’Orcia in Tuscany, said, ‘Especially in Sicily we have had severe issues of peronospora [downy mildew], unseen in the past 20+ years. We expect production to be almost halved for 2023. After months of rain we are now experiencing extremely high temperatures. Let’s see.’

‘The 2023 harvest will be one of the most difficult of the last years,’ commented Arianna Occhipinti. ‘Beside the recent big wave of heat, we had heavy rains in May and June, important for the flowering of our grapes. The start of downy mildew may impact our upcoming production for about 30-35%; the sulphur and copper treatments (the only treatments we carry out in the vineyard) in higher concentrations, were not enough to contain the problem. The 2023 harvest will be lower in quantity but higher in quality.’

‘It is still difficult and premature to make accurate estimates about the quantity and quality [of the 2023 harvest]. Sicilian wine growers know how to manage the effect of climate change, focusing on quality and not quantity,’ underlined Assovini Sicilia president, Mariangela Cambria, who also co-owns Etna winery, Cottanera.

Franchetti added, ‘In Tuscany it has not been as bad. The unusually high levels of rain alternating with very high temperatures have not caused any serious issues. For now we have been spared from the hail and winds which are causing havoc in the north of Italy… for now.’

Some producers in Tuscany anticipate a smaller harvest in 2023, although it is early days and estimates vary considerably, according to a report this week by winenews.it.

It said the Consorzio Chianti Classico currently anticipated losses of around 10-15%, the Consorzio Brunello di Montalcino expected 5% losses and the Consorzio Bolgheri e Bolgheri Sassicaia estimated hypothetical losses of perhaps as much as 20%.

Making adjustments

Rising temperatures and increasing occurrences of drought in recent years have caused winemakers to rethink how to manage their vines and how to treat the grapes in the winery.

Many producers, from Piedmont to Bolgheri to Sicily, have stated that harvest today is around one month earlier than 20 to 30 years ago, highlighting the increase in temperatures and consequent advanced ripening of the grapes compared to the 1990s.

Marilisa Allegrini, of the eponymous Valpolicella family, told Decanter recently during a visit to the family’s Villa della Torre property in Fumani that the viticultural team would usually carry out a green harvest at this time of year.

However, the sporadic storms interrupting periods of extreme heat have forced them to wait and see what happens. Allegrini pointed out grapes that had succumbed to sunburn and, although she explained that they currently have an overproduction, they can’t yet risk dropping too much fruit in case of further losses from either sunburn or mildew.

Even if storms do not directly damage fruit, they can still create extra work for producers. ‘The pruning of the hailstormed branches has to be done,’ Currado said. ‘Even when damage seems limited, the vine still suffers from a slowdown in vegetative activity and must be treated with disinfectant products to heal scars and prevent mould and funghi from entering the vine.

‘Effective natural products are now available that can be used even on farms like us that work organically. Avoiding the ineffective anti-hail cannons, the only useful prevention is coverage with anti-hail nets, along with insurance. However, they represent a cost justifiable only with highly profitable productions.’

Canopy management is a technique that has become fundamental to ensuring healthy grapes. Whilst in the past the leaves could be cut back to expose the bunches to the sun for even ripening, in today’s warmer climates the leaves surrounding the bunches can instead be utilised to cast shade and prevent sunburn.

Strategically selected leaves can also be removed to slow down the process of photosynthesis, helping to curtail the swift advance of sugar ripeness in relation to physiological ripeness.

Additionally, cover crops between rows of vines can help to shade the ground and prevent the reflection of sunlight, which can occur on lighter soils, in addition to the benefits such crops can bring to a vineyard’s biodiversity and increasing nitrogen levels in the soil.

In his Barolo 2017 vintage report for Decanter Premium, Aldo Fiordelli noted that producers in that infamous drought year reduced the maceration time to avoid over-extraction. Some producers also opted for commercial yeasts over indigenous strains, he noted, to better cope with the higher potential alcohol of the wines.

During a masterclass hosted by Gaia Gaja on the family’s Bolgheri estate, Ca’ Marcanda, in 2022 in London, Gaja explained that the estate was transitioning from cordon to Guyot training in order to produce grapes with less concentration and more freshness.

Gaja noted that while Guyot training was associated with higher volume production, climate change has enabled the estate to produce quality grapes using the system.

Italy’s hillsides and mountains are also key if temperatures continue to rise, and some denominations, such as Brunello di Montalcino, have already amended or deleted pre-existing restrictions on maximum altitude for viticulture. Elsewhere, producers are seeking high altitude vineyard sites even if they are not accepted within the DOC/DOCG; it’s possible that we will see an increase of IGT bottlings from producers in the future.

Finally, east-facing vineyards are gaining a voice as traditional south-facing exposures risk producing over-ripe fruit. Capturing the morning sun while avoiding the worst of the afternoon rays helps producers to retain elegance and complexity in their wines despite rising temperatures.

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Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, Andy Howard MW and Susan Hulme MW tasted 198 wines with 1 Outstanding and 27 Highly recommended.

Prosecco: Panel tasting scores

198 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 1

Highly recommended 27

Recommended 138

Commended 23

Fair 7

Poor 2

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their spumante sparkling wines from DOC Prosecco and Prosecco Rosé, DOCG Prosecco Asolo Superiore or DOCG Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, with retail pricing at £7.99 or above.

Synonymous with sparkling wine now, Prosecco was relatively unknown outside Italy 20 years ago, yet today it is renowned worldwide, as evidenced by its meteoric rise in popularity – more than 600 million bottles were produced in 2022, of which over 70% is exported globally.

The area in northeast Italy where Prosecco is produced spans just under 40,000ha across the regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia; the one constant is Glera, the white grape used for the vast majority of production, known for its fresh acidity and aromatic notes of apple blossom, peaches and lemons. Add carbon dioxide and a touch of residual sugar, and you have a fresh, fruity fizz that goes down a treat.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the Prosecco panel tasting

Prosecco is sold under a few denominations related to the area where the grapes are grown. The large Prosecco DOC (28,000ha) is diverse in terroir and is known for fruity, light-bodied wines. In contrast, the DOCG regions of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore (approaching 9,000ha) and Asolo Prosecco Superiore (some 2,000ha) represent the historical centre of production – in the steep foothills of the Alps, they produce wines that are very aromatic but lean and steely, often tasting drier than their DOC counterparts.

Given the vast amount of production, one would expect variations in quality, but our judging panel was pleasantly surprised by the consistency found here, with 83% receiving scores of 86 points or higher. The Prosecco DOC wines were ‘light, easy-drinking wines that were designed for early consumption, but very few elevate themselves above this consistent baseline’, said Andy Howard MW.

For the wines from Prosecco DOC Treviso – a sub-zone of the wider DOC area – Susan Hulme MW found they had ‘in general, more character and better balance’. They were ‘worth looking out for’, according to Howard.

Prosecco DOC Rosé wines were less inspiring: no entries scored above 87pts. ‘It’s as if producers don’t seem sure of what exactly the style for pink Prosecco should be,’ said Howard – the allowed small addition of red wine (15% or less), seemed to mask Glera’s aromatic character in the examples we tasted.

See all Prosecco panel tasting wines

The UK is the top export market for Prosecco Superiore DOCG, so it wasn’t a surprise to see a high number of entries. Both Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG and Asolo DOCG performed well: more than 92% of entries scored 86pts or higher, and 21 wines 90pts or more. This category offers more fruit concentration, with acidity and residual sugar far better balanced than in its DOC counterparts. ‘I liked many of the wines from Asolo DOCG, which had a different, more gentle style than Prosecco DOC,’ said Hulme.

Without a doubt, the standout was Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze DOCG. Cartizze is a 108ha vineyard in Valdobbiadene considered the ‘grand cru’ of the entire region. Three of the four wines tasted were rated 90pts and above, with one (the 195th wine tasted, at the end of two long days!) managing to shine above all the rest and receiving an outstanding score of 95pts (see below).

The takeaway? The Prosecco category offers different things to different consumers. Prosecco DOC proved that, despite the high volumes of production, it still can produce good wines at an affordable price point.

But – as this tasting demonstrated – there are benefits to stretching the budget to a Prosecco Treviso DOC, or a DOCG.

Prosecco panel tasting scores

The judges

Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW is a widely published wine writer, consultant, educator and WSET lecturer. She is a regular judge and contributor for Decanter, and from this year is the DWWA Regional Chair for Tuscany.

Andy Howard MW is a Decanter contributing editor and a DWWA Regional Chair for categories including Central Italy. A former wine buyer, he now runs his own wine consultancy Vinetrades, focusing on wine education, investment and sourcing.

Susan Hulme MW is a wine writer, editor, educator and presenter specialising in Italy. She runs her own wine training and consultancy company Vintuition and travels regularly to Italian wine regions. Now focusing more on her writing, she is Italian editor for The Wine Independent.

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In Italian, a ‘calvarino’ refers to a little ordeal, in this case a reference to the trials and tribulations of working on the steep slopes and the dark basaltic rock that makes up the soils in this part of the Soave region in Veneto.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Pieropan Calvarino

Calvarino by Pieropan has been harvested on its own since 1971 and today amounts to eight hectares of vines (about 70,000 bottles are produced annually). Having recently celebrated 50 vintages, it is the oldest cru bottling of an Italian white wine. ‘This is a very important anniversary for us,’ explains Andrea Pieropan, who represents the fourth generation at Pieropan, together with his brother Dario.

‘Vigneto Calvarino marked a turning point in the panorama of Italian white wine, because with it we understood the importance of interpreting a terroir. Our dad knew and wanted to harmonise the relationship between man, territory and vine in a unique and exemplary wine, setting a milestone for Italian enology.’

In the 1970s, there were very few regions of Italy that labeled wines with the name of the parcel, giving more space to the first appellations or brands at the time. Together with the famed Italian wine critic Luigi Veronelli, Leonildo Pieropan decided to label his two cru wines with the name of their respective vineyards: La Rocca, and Calvarino (an old family parcel owned since 1901).

Leonildo took pride in recognising his two vineyards on the labels, highlighting the unique ‘genius loci’ of his land. In doing so, he managed to transmit an interpretation of the terroir – the complex relationship between grape variety, soil and climate environment, and human work – which is what makes wine an authentic expression of a territory and its culture.

La Rocca is a pure Garganega wine grown over limestone, producing a sought-after oak-fermented white, while Calvarino is a blend of Garganega with up to 30% of Trebbiano di Soave, planted on volcanic soil.

Despite my preference for La Rocca due to the elegant pairing of Garganega with limestone, Calvarino has many details which make it an exceptional wine: the acidity of Trebbiano – which can be considered aggressive when young – lends a particularly bracing freshness to the enticing delicacy of Soave, balanced by the beguiling gracefulness of Garganega and by the extended lees ageing for 12 to 15 months (reduced from up to 24 months pre-2005). Its volcanic character slowly emerges, subtle at first but progressing to smoky at around 10 years of age.

Trebbiano revival

Not by chance, Italy is experiencing a collective interest in rediscovering the different clones of Trebbiano (Toscano, d’Abruzzo, Spoletino) – including Trebbiano di Soave, which is a sibling of the successful Verdicchio. In the case of Pieropan, Trebbiano di Soave is typically fermented in concrete and since 2018, the winery has installed tulip-shaped concrete vessels which are ‘more reductive’ according to Andrea and Dario.

The importance of Calvarino stems from the combination of the talent of Leonildo Pieropan (who left us in 2018) and his tendency to ignore trends – extended lees ageing and maintaining the Pergola training system, for example – with the potential of Garganega and the strong identity of basaltic rock.

In the end it is the ageing potential of this wine that impresses the most. Leonildo Pieropan had the foresight to sense this, stowing away at least 1,000 bottles of Calvarino every year to the family library. Today, his wife Teresita has shining eyes remembering those vintages, just as a wine lover might have when opening such a precious antique. The 1992, ‘a bad, rainy vintage’, as recalled by Andrea and Dario, emerged as golden in colour and today is still one of the best examples of Calvarino.

The soulful wines from this vineyard are showcased in another label, as well: it’s not bottled as a Soave due to its winemaking process, aged in 10hl oak barrels in a solera system composed of five vintages. The 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 composition was bottled in 2021 and released in 2022. Named ‘Calvarino 5’, it’s an utterly unique white wine of roughly 7,000 bottles which represents the steadfast commitment of the Pieropan family, their dependable style of production, and the great quality of their wines.

Back in time: Pieropan Calvarino

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Be prepared for an overwhelming sense of awe when you see the lush green leaves covering the rolling hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene for the first time, interrupted only by centuries-old stone buildings, brick towers and blue skies. These hills host some of the steepest vineyards in Italy – and some of the best sparkling wines, too, in the form of Prosecco Superiore DOCG.

It’s an area worth exploring over a couple of days in order to admire the manicured hills that have been a UNESCO world heritage site since 2019. And just an hour away lies Venice; a perfect excursion.

The south-facing vineyards which cover the slopes at 100-500m above sea level turn their backs to the forests on the north side of the hills, enjoying all the sun they can get. A moderate climate and a lot of rain, combined with constant winds, allows Glera, the main grape of Prosecco, to thrive. Other local varieties, such as Glera Lunga, Verdiso, Perera and Bianchetta Trevigiana, are also used in small quantities, along with some international grapes including Pinot Noir – which gives its colour to Prosecco rosé, which was approved as a DOC in 2020.

Most of the grapes for Prosecco DOC are grown on the plains, but the Prosecco Superiore DOCG grapes come exclusively from the dense hillside vineyards between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. The even steeper hills of the Cartizze sub-region (just 108ha) and the ‘rive’ (43 individual localities), require heroic harvesting.

According to Elvira Bortolomiol, the current president of the Consorzio of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG (around 430 winemakers), the growth of Prosecco Superiore demonstrates how consumers are appreciating its quality. ‘We believe that the recognition of the hills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene as a UNESCO World Heritage Site has played an important role in giving visibility to its territory of origin, to this extraordinary beauty.’

The Prosecco road

The uniqueness of this territory can be best enjoyed on the Prosecco road (‘Strada del Prosecco’), created in 1966. It’s a 90km loop, best enjoyed on a vespa or e-bike. There are also hiking routes – such as the 15 km Prosecco loop (‘Anello del Prosecco’), which winds through some of the Valdobbiadene villages – to leisurely explore the area’s winemaking and gastronomic traditions.

Isidoro Rebuli, president of Strada del Prosecco e Vini dei Colli Conegliano Valdobbiadene, has seen the area grow into a well prepared international tourism destination. He believes that the denomination will continue to claim a higher status by learning from its own history, for example by paying attention to refermentation in the bottle, traditionally called Valdobbiadene Col Fondo.

If you are in the area in May, you might see the cyclists of the Giro d’Italia race whizzing through Valdobbiadene. In June, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Experience offers events such as wine treks, concerts and vineyard picnics. If you are visiting in early October, look for vintage cars in the Centomiglia race cruising along the hills and through the historic villages.

My perfect day in Prosecco

Morning

Wake up at Villa Clementina in San Pietro di Feletto – northwest of Conegliano – and go for a jog in the hills before returning for a breakfast surrounded by vineyards. Enjoy a wine tasting at Sorelle Bronca, where sisters Antonella and Ersiliana Bronca make three exceptional organic Prosecco Superiore DOCG Rive in a series called ‘Particelle’ from their historical family plots. They are also behind the Harvey Nichols brand of Prosecco Superiore DOCG, available in the UK.

Afterwards head to Villa Sandi, where you will be accompanied through underground cellars directly into the heart of a Palladian villa and winery. Try the Cartizze Brut – Villa Sandi is one of the first producers of this drier style of Cartizze.

Hop back to the other side of the hill for lunch at Trattoria alla Cima, where you can bite into juicy meat grilled on an open fire or savour a delicate basil risotto.

Afternoon

After lunch, take a tour at Bisol, a winery where you can appreciate the ‘grand crus’ of Prosecco. Bisol has worked hard to take Prosecco Superiore to new markets, and a visit to its historic cellar and a tasting of its crus is nothing short of a revelation. The Bisol1542 Edizione I Gondolieri bottling is the official Prosecco of the Venice Gondolier Association.

After Bisol, head to Bortolomiol winery, one not to miss when talking about Cartizze – or culture. Bortolomiol has restored a small 19th century silk mill and transformed it into a visitor’s centre, where a wine tasting is an education in the variety of Prosecco styles, interwoven with history. Try the Grande Cuvée del Fondatore Motus Vitae, dedicated to Giulio Bortolomiol, the creator of the first Prosecco Brut in 1960.

Then, if you have time, head to Latteria Perenzin in Conegliano for a cheese tasting paired with lesser-known local wines.

Evening

Stop back at base to freshen up and taste Villa Clementina’s range of Proseccos, before heading to Il Capitello restaurant for a luxurious dinner in a rustic setting, where the charismatic Possamai family welcomes you warmly.

Excursions to Venice

When you arrive in Venice (which can be done as a day trip) you will feel like you have stepped into a 16th century painting. Venice is an endless challenge for its own residents (transporting goods along canals, the swarm of tourists in the summer, and the occasional acqua alta). For the rest of us, it’s a gift of godly proportions.

A cicchetti and Prosecco crawl is a must while navigating the maze of calli and canals in Venice. Make sure to stop at Bar All’Arco near the Rialto bridge, the quintessential Venetian bacaro (wine bar) where you can try small bites along with some natural Prosecco.

Enjoy a glass in one of the campi (squares), or standing at a bar counter at the popular Cantine del Vino già Schiavi. Take a sweet break at pasticceria Rosa Salva sitting in Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo – but watch out for the crafty seagulls hoping to steal your treat.

For an authentic seafood experience, dine at one of the established fish restaurants of the city, such as Al Covo or Antiche Carampane. Be sure to book your table in advance.

Venissa – An alternative Venice

To avoid the crowds and to see Venice like never before, consider taking a boat from Altino (a 10-minute drive from Marco Polo Airport) to Venissa wine resort on Mazzorbo island.

Gianluca Bisol (of Bisol Prosecco fame) revived a 1ha piece of land on the island of Mazzorbo to cultivate Dorona, long-thought to be extinct, and produces from this variety a golden-hued wine in handmade Venetian glass bottles, labelled literally with a gold leaf. Venissa has five rooms and hosts an osteria and a Michelin star restaurant. From Mazzorbo you can walk to Burano island, just over a wooden bridge, famous for its lace artisans and colourful houses.

Your Prosecco and Venice address book

Where to stay

Villa Clementina

Formerly known as Tenuta Contarini, a 19th-century farmhouse that has been transformed into a charming relais. Feel at home and let yourself be spoiled by the impeccable hospitality.

Cà Piadera

A farmhouse with comfortable rooms and great views. Enjoy the property’s own wine and produce.

Hotel Villa Abbazia

Treat yourself to this Relais & Châteaux inn, an 18th century mansion between Valdobbiadene and Conegliano with a restaurant and separate bistrot.

Where to eat

Trattoria alla Cima

With refined and homemade seasonal primi, and open-fire grilled meat, Isidoro Rebuli consistently offers good food with lovely views. Try Cima’s own excellent Prosecco Superiore DOCG, as well as other regional wines from the wine list.

Il Capitello

Offering creative antipasti such as picanha with artichokes, and seasonal primi such as asparagus risotto, Il Capitello’s speciality is grilled meat. Impeccable service from a family of restaurateurs.

Venissa

Young Italian chefs Chiara Pavan and Francesco Brutto focus on sustainability and turn the produce of their vegetable garden, along with wild herbs and seafood of the lagoon, into memorable dishes such as vine leaf chips and artemisia ravioli.

Al Covo

Al Covo uses quality ingredients from the Venetian islands and the Adriatic sea, like the pink oysters from the Po Delta, as well as from other regions, such as Chianina beef from Tuscany. Their wine menu is well curated and offers a chance to try excellent Prosecco Sui Lieviti (on the lees).

Antiche Carampane

This historical restaurant offers skillfully prepared traditional seafood specialities. Try classics like sardines in saor, or cuttlefish in ink. In the spring and autumn, don’t miss the fried moeche (soft-shell crab). The wine list includes a good selection of organic and natural wines.

What to do

Say cheese

Visit Latteria Perenzin for award-winning cheeses such as inbriago, aged in Glera grape pomace. Contact the lovely owner, Erika, for a private visit of the ageing cellar or to book an aperitivo with cheese tasting.

Give Grappa a chance

For a change of grape scene, visit Distilleria Bonaventura Maschio to see copper distillers and taste the Prime Uve Grappa distilled from fresh grapes. If you have more time, head west to Bassano del Grappa and visit Capovilla – be amazed by more than 60 types of Grappa made from various (some wild) fruits and herbs.

Appreciate art through food

When in Venice, visit the Gallerie dell’Accademia to admire The Feast in the House of Levi by Paolo Veronese, painted in 1573 and covering an entire wall.

Prosecco: How to get there

The nearest airport is Venice Marco Polo Airport. Conegliano is just a 30-minute drive north from the airport (about 50km). The smaller Treviso airport is closer to the wine region (about 35km) but less serviced.

Fast trains bring you to Venezia Santa Lucia train station from Milan (2.5 hours) or Rome (four hours), where you can exit straight onto a canal – as nowhere else in the world.

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Can the colour of a wine start a revolution? It happened on the eastern shore of Lake Garda. Here, the rosé version of the local red wine, Bardolino, became in just a few years the most produced rosé wine in Italy, a ‘colossus’ of 10 million bottles a year that captured the hearts of thousands of fans – especially younger wine drinkers – with a captivating and fresh image. This is the unexpected story of Chiaretto di Bardolino.

Bardolino and its pink alter-ego, Chiaretto di Bardolino, are produced from the same grapes as the more famous Valpolicella and Amarone: Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara. Techniques for making Chiaretto di Bardolino haven’t changed much since Roman times – the same pressing technique was used in Garda and in Provence, producing clarum, meaning ‘clear’ or ‘pale’. But while Provence has preserved its fame for rosé wines over the centuries, in the Bardolino district the red type took hold, even becoming one of the most plagiarised Italian wines in the mid-20th century.

The ‘Rosé Revolution’

In 2014, Franco Cristoforetti, co-owner of Vigneti Villabella winery and in his first year as president of the Consorzio di Tutela Chiaretto e Bardolino*, launched the ‘Rosé Revolution’ in order to enhance the pink side of Bardolino. ‘The lack of anthocyanins in Corvina grapes, naturally lacking in colour, and its palette of citrus scents when it is softly pressed, could no longer be ignored,’ he says.

Almost overnight, 85% of Chiaretto production became pale pink in colour thanks to softer pressing and a brief period of skin contact. This was in contrast to the traditional darker hue derived from the saignée method, a by-product of red wine production where Chiaretto was obtained by bleeding off a portion of juice after a longer period of skin contact, thus concentrating the red wine and giving a darkly coloured, tannic rosé. Today, the work also begins long before the grapes arrive in the cellar. ‘The Chiaretto has now its own dedicated vineyards, real crus,’ reflects Cristoforetti.

Success was immediate, and after increasing year after year, today production of Chiaretto di Bardolino sits at 10 million bottles. A modification to the disciplinary in 2021 recognised its growing importance, and Bardolino Chiaretto, produced within the historic DOC since 1968, was changed to ‘Chiaretto di Bardolino,’ underlining its strong territorial identity, just as with Amarone della Valpolicella. The percentage of Corvina permitted was at the same time increased from 80% to 95%, with Rondinella being the only other compulsory grape.

‘For the modern Chiaretto, the soil, the microclimate and the vintages are important, just like for any ambitious wine,’ remarks Matilde Poggi, owner of Le Fraghe winery and president of the Confédération Européenne des Vignerons Indépendants.

The land of Chiaretto

The largest Italian lake, Lake Garda, benefits vines grown nearby, thanks to its mild climate and its mineral-rich soils. The ‘moraines’ – circles of hills spreading out for kilometres from the lake’s shores – are formed by the sediments raised by the ancient glacier, which formed the lake.

The result is a wine with a pale pink colour tending towards orange, with aromas of citrus fruits, apricots, wild berries and aromatic herbs. Bardolino di Chiaretto is mineral on the palate, actually salty, thanks to the tons of sodium dissolved in the soils.

Sapidity, combined with the typical tannins of Corvina, is the distinctive feature of Chiaretto compared to French or Spanish rosés. The 12-13% alcohol gives body and balance, making the wine very versatile at the table. The quality-price ratio is generally favourable.

Like every revolution, Chiaretto too has to overcome the challenge of time. ‘It is a wine that the market does not allow to age, even if it would give its best after a period of refinement,’ says Cristoforetti. He’s a believer in Chiaretto’s ability to age, and proposes a glass of his Villa Cordevigo Gaudenzia, Chiaretto di Bardolino Classico 2019. Now four years old, it’s an unsettling explosion of candied orange and smoky notes.

The winemakers of Bardolino, having created a territorial awareness based on the colour, are now looking far ahead. In the meantime, the market has expanded, like the morainic circles, from local to national, lastly international. The ‘pink revolution’ carries on…

*Franco Cristoforetti was succeeded as president by Fabio Dei Micheli in March 2023. 

Tiziano’s top 10 Chiaretto di Bardolino wines to try

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When the Prosecco DOC was written into law in 2009, along with two DOCGs – the hilly prominences of Asolo and Conegliano Valdobbiadene – it meant that Prosecco could now be produced in a 250km-wide zone encompassing nine provinces, from Vicenza in Veneto to Trieste in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

It was a vast expansion from the traditional centre of production of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, which had been recognised as a DOC since 1969. Whether this was down to the need to embrace the town named Prosecco, located in Trieste, to justify the naming of the new DOC, or that the minister of agriculture responsible for signing on the dotted line, Luca Zaia, was from Conegliano (and the following year was appointed president of Veneto, a position he has held ever since), the fact is that these game-changing moves turned Prosecco into a powerhouse whose ascent seems unstoppable.

Scroll down for a selection of top Proseccos to try

But, nearly 15 years on, the key questions are: have consumers begun to tire of Prosecco’s typical apple, pear and flowers profile; and is there more to this area than affordable bubbles?

Onwards & upwards

The answer to the first question seems to be a resounding ‘no’. Production of Prosecco DOC alone is now approximately double that of Champagne: 627.5m bottles were produced in 2021 according to the consorzio’s president Stefano Zanette, demonstrating that demand is higher than ever. Additionally, the consorzio altered its production regulations in late-2020 to bring sparkling rosé wines into the fold, which had long been produced in the area but were previously not permitted to be labelled under the DOC.

The first vintage was released in 2021, to the tune of some 71.5 million bottles. A minimum of 85% Glera, with up to 15% Pinot Noir vinified as red and farmed at lower yields – the rosé wine spending at least 60 days in the autoclave (large pressurised tanks) rather than the 30 days required for the whites – Prosecco DOC Rosé has been positioned as a quality product from the off. Notably, it must be the product of a single year, unlike its white counterpart, which can be either a non-vintage or vintage product. Rather than opening the floodgates to a sea of cheap and cheerful pink fizz, the consorzio tightened up the regulations sufficiently to position the product as a calling card for Prosecco DOC’s quality.

The Asolo and Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCGs are both in the province of Treviso – another name you’re likely to see on labels since it’s a designated sub-zone of the Prosecco DOC (as is Trieste). Such is the stunning beauty of the rural, hilly landscape here that things feel faintly ‘Tolkien’: an environment of streams, pastures and a huge variety of flora and fauna, including many species of bird, deer – big fans of Glera grapes – and, so I’m told, wolves. South-facing hillsides are bristling with the distinct stripes of the ciglioni (narrow grassy terraces with vines that traverse the slope), interspersed with narrow, winding roads, while north-facing slopes are largely shady woodland. Distant church towers are silhouetted against the sky by the morning and evening sun. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019, the hills are a glorious celebration of what a wine landscape can be; although vines are all around, they are only part of the picture.

Looking local

Asolo Prosecco DOCG covers just 2,000ha of vines, west of the Piave river in the Montello uplands, and producing a little more than 21m bottles in 2021, in stark contrast to the DOC’s 24,450ha (Consorzio Prosecco DOC). The noteworthy early success of Prosecco DOC Rosé led the Asolo Prosecco DOCG consortium to approve a regulation change on 30 June 2021 to allow a rosé version: however, two-thirds of producers reportedly opposed the idea, citing a lack of historic precedent for growing Pinot Noir (unlike Prosecco DOC, which has long farmed the red variety). The clout of the few large producers and their weighted votes managed to push the bill through, but it’s still unclear whether there will be an appeal and if we will see Asolo Rosé anytime soon (source: winenews.it).

Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG’s 8,700ha of vines exceeded 100m bottles for the first time in 2021 (Consorzio Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore). The name is certainly a mouthful – roll off the tongue it does not. In a world of 280-character Tweets, contracting wine lists and consumers short on time, it’s a tough sell. What it does do, though, is encapsulate the historical winemaking area, stretching from the heart of production around the town of Valdobbiadene (west of the DOCG by the Piave river) to the town of Conegliano to the east – home to a university, one of Italy’s oldest winemaking schools and a research centre.

Many producers here are prone to championing their local terroir on the bottle, particularly in Valdobbiadene, where producers typically feel a strong connection to the land – some 60% of DOCG production is labelled ‘Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG’, while only about 30% is labelled under the full name. A small minority of 10% even drop both Conegliano and Prosecco and label their wines ‘Valdobbiadene DOCG’ (according to consorzio research, 2018).

It’s laudable that producers want to identify their territory, but it puts the ability for the denomination to market itself effectively at risk – and so the consorzio is working to unite producers under the singular name, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG, by the second half of 2023, according to director and renowned agricultural scientist Diego Tomasi.

Aiming high

There are two ‘premium’ products, which the consorzio illustrates as the upper two tiers of a pyramid: the DOCG allows for 43 ‘Rive’, which essentially represent the terroirs of 43 hamlets and are now officially recognised as unità geografiche aggiuntive, or UGAs. Grapes must be handpicked from the steepest slopes at reduced yields, and the wine must be the product of a single vintage. These wines are, generally, superb. They are increasingly being produced in the new (since 2019) extra brut style – off-dry, at 12-17g/L residual sugar – to allow the terroir to shine through and offer a glimpse into the future direction of ‘fine Prosecco’.

At the peak of the pyramid is Superiore di Cartizze. The price for grapes from Cartizze – which is the 107ha jewel in Conegliano Valdobbiadene’s crown and a recognised sub-zone since 1969 – was three times higher (€6/ kg) than the price for grapes from the rest of the DOCG in 2022, according to one producer. Yields are lower even than for Rive, and the average vineyard holding is just one hectare (Consorzio Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore) – most have been passed down through the generations and rarely come up for sale.

This makes Cartizze one of Italy’s most expensive viticultural locations. Land here can fetch up to €1.2m/ha (Italy24 News). To compare, the estimated average price per hectare elsewhere in the DOCG ranges between €350,000 and €500,000. Asolo Prosecco’s average price per hectare is €250,000-€380,000, while Franciacorta (in Lombardy) starts at around €200,000/ha (winenews.it). But is Cartizze a wasted opportunity? Its vineyard valuations don’t seem to translate into anything tangibly ‘grand cru’ that consumers outside the local area might recognise. There’s no denying the quality of the wines made here; it’s just that few have come across them.

Artisan ethic

Despite rosé’s commercial upside, as proven by Prosecco DOC Rosé, Conegliano Valdobbiadene is steadfastly dedicated to its white spumante production. In 2019, Sui Lieviti (full name: Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Spumante Sui Lieviti) was added to the production regulations. This traditionally frizzante style was produced across the region before the introduction of the Charmat method that produces fully sparkling wines, but in recent decades Sui Lieviti has fallen by the wayside as an unfashionable drink – until recently.

The style was historically referred to as ‘col fondo’ (and commonly known in other parts of the world as pét-nat or méthode ancestrale), but a bizarre trademark dispute between the consorzio and two wineries who registered the term ‘colfondo’ has led to the adoption of the ‘Sui Lieviti’ moniker instead.

Meaning ‘on the yeasts’, this name is technically accurate but severs a link to Prosecco’s col fondo past, made worse by the fact that producers wishing to label their wines under the new Sui Lieviti DOCG title must ensure that they are spumante, not frizzante: the 2.5 bars of pressure (frizzante) of the region’s traditional col fondo wines do not make the grade; instead, they must achieve a minimum of 3 bars (spumante).

This will no doubt be good news for producers wanting to market a trendy style under the ‘premium’ DOCG label, and it’s a positive step that this style has been officially recognised and endorsed at all: a sign of the increasing popularity and scope of the artisan movement. But some of Prosecco’s key artisan proponents have eschewed this new category in favour of their historic name. Christian Zago at Ca’ dei Zago in Valdobbiadene, for example, has chosen to roll with the punches and market his exemplary col fondo wines under the Colli Trevigiani IGT label instead.

With three consorzios and a multitude of labels, what many of us think of as a singular ‘Prosecco’ is, in truth, far from it. All three denominations are in rude health, posting record production figures, yet due to commercial and political reasons, their paths seem likely to diverge further rather than cross.

Broad appeal: the variety of taste in Prosecco

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There are few wineries in Italy capable of arranging a vertical tasting dating back 60 years.

The Bertani estate in Valpolicella, however, can do this and more – not only pouring 43 different vintages to demonstrate the history of their Amarone, but also releasing most of them to the market.

The initiative, carrying the name ‘Library’, was presented at the historic winery of the estate at the end of September 2022 in Grezzana. Along with the vertical tasting, a photographic book was debuted written by Nick Jackson MW that gives a brief history of the Bertani estate, the vineyards used to produce Amarone Classico, the typical house style, and a detailed report of all vintages – most of which are available in the UK via Enotria.

The American Master of Wine defined the vintages in one of four categories: ‘Exuberance, Gentleness, Harmony and Finesse’. Would you define an Amarone della Valpolicella using these categories? Made by drying grapes and demonstrating some of the highest levels of dry extract found in Italian red wines, you probably would not; with the exception of ‘Exuberance’, perhaps.

But Bertani’s Amarone Classico is different, well known for its elegance, freshness and drinkability. And there are technical reasons for that: since the foundation of the estate in Quinto di Valpantena, the Bertani brothers put to use what they had learned about viticulture and winemaking from the legendary French expert, Jules Guyot.

See Aldo’s notes & scores for all 43 Bertani Amarone Classico vintages

The vineyards

The vineyards are mostly planted in Negrar, one of the coolest valleys of Valpolicella. The Miniere (‘mines’) vineyard is located on iron-rich red limestone over clay subsoil. Lots of energy is sourced from here and given to the blend.

The Ognisanti vineyard, at lower altitude, lies on white limestone and sandy soil, while Colombara on the opposite side of the estate sits on volcanic basalt soils, similar to those inherent to Soave. Dark, vibrant and spicy reds are sourced from here.

Other important vineyard sources for the Amarone Classico are Fonte Romana and Quaiara, which each contribute to the complex patchwork of the final blend.

The drying process is carried out in a natural way at the Novare estate in Negrar. Andrea Lonardi, managing director of the Bertani group, underlines that ‘Amarone is one of the only wines affected by weather conditions after the harvest. Pure, precise wines are likely to have benefited from a dry autumn, with excellent drying conditions; those wines with a more extrovert, baroque character possibly incorporated some botrytis, which develops in damper autumns.’

In the cellar

The ageing is no less impressive: seven years in big Slavonian oak for most of the modern vintages, but up to 30 years in casks for the oldest wines. Due to this prolonged ageing in wood, the casks need to be topped regularly to avoid oxidation as a consequence of evaporation. Topping up is carried out using wine from the current vintage. Even though the quantities of wine needed for topping up are small, there is nonetheless a Sherry-style ‘solera effect’ at work, as each mature wine incorporates small amounts of at least seven younger vintages.

Between 70,000 and 110,000 bottles are produced each year at Bertani, of which 10-15% are retained to replenish the library stocks for the future.

In 2023, Bertani is due to release the 2013 vintage but then it will be necessary to wait until 2025 to buy the estate’s next new wine, as they did not produce Amarone in 2014 (nor in 2020).

However, such a wait is nothing new for fans of Bertani’s Amarone Classico. Aside from the signature cooler style of the Negrar valley, long ageing is what brings so much elegance and nimbleness to the estate’s Amarone.

Luckily, the vertical of Amarone was indeed a succession of finesse, harmony, gentleness and energy, otherwise such a mega-tasting of 43 vintages would be neither as enjoyable, nor as eloquent, as it was. The wines were divided into three flights, not only due to the number of glasses needed for a panel of 10 journalists, but also to provide some reprieve and order – Amarone is a wine with some residual sugar, a determined tannic structure, alcohol around 15%, and acidity concentrated by the drying process.

Tasting 43 vintages

The tasting demonstrated Bertani’s impressive consistency over 60 years. My personal tastes favoured the drier wines in the lineup. This is what emerged from the tasting notes and scores, not necessarily from an ideological position. In the 1960s, when this style was more evident, the wines shone for their finesse and incomparable complexity. The celebrated 1964 but also the 1962 were compared by most of the panellists to old Pinot Noir.

Nevertheless, when the Bertani style matches rich, warm and modern vintages like 2000, 2009 or 2010, the luscious style achieves a different kind of harmony, maybe ‘Baroque’ compared to the finesse of the more classic vintages, but elegant in the context of the appellation and at comparably affordable prices.

The 1990s were, if possible, the decade when these wines struggled, and Amarone went out of fashion in this period.

The last vintages, particularly the fresh 2013 (which will be released in 2023 at £95), aim to revive the finest Amarone vintages of the estate, leading with a crisp fruit character and showing plenty of finesse. The first vintages had to be more austere at the release, but on the flip side of the coin, we don’t have to wait as long to taste nowadays.

Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico vertical: top scorers

See Aldo’s notes & scores for all 43 vintages

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The Italians always like to begin a story from the beginning. This one begins in the year 1772, when Giobatta Boscaini entered into a contract with a certain Bonaldi for the lease of vineyards in the Vaio (‘valley’) dei Masi; vineyards which the Boscaini family later acquired through marriage and which they have owned ever since. It was the prologue to a story spanning 250 years and six generations of uninterrupted winemaking.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 17 Masi wines

Jump forward exactly 100 years and the modern story starts when, in 1882, Paolo Boscaini founded the firm of Paolo Bosciani & Figli. His son, Guido developed the business, planting new vineyards and increasing production, selling his wines in barrel to merchants who would stay as guests at the family home while they selected their wines.

The world of wine was changing rapidly, however. The 1960s saw the emergence of giant industrial bottlers in the Veneto and, foreseeing a difficult future for family wine growers like themselves, Guido sought to direct his son Sandro towards a more secure profession in pharmacy.

Tenuta dei Masi

Sandro had other ideas and on graduating in Economics and Commerce he threw himself back into the family business, a decision which changed the destiny of the company – in the mid-1960s, Sandro proposed to his father that he and his enologist brother, Sergio, take on the management of a new branch of the firm to produce Amarone and other estate wines from the property in the Vaio di Masi, under the name Tenuta dei Masi.

Over the next half century, Sandro led the company which became known as Masi Agricola to a position of leadership in the Veneto, with a profound influence on the development of the wines of Valpolicella.

A far-sighted business strategist – enterprising and dynamic, deeply conservative in his attachment to the Valpolicella, but in other ways ahead of his time – it has been said that Sandro Boscaini is to Amarone what Angelo Gaja is to Barbaresco and Antinori to Chianti. Few would contest the assertion.

Leading the way

Masi’s leadership role has been achieved through a long track record of innovation, guided by the combination of commercial intuition, scientific research and technical expertise. The ‘re-’ prefix is a leitmotiv in the Masi curriculum: it was Masi for instance, with their legendary winemaker Nino Franceschetti, who first reintroduced the Ripasso technique of refermenting a young Valpolicella on the pomace of Amarone, for their Campofiorin; Masi, too, were responsible for the rediscovery of the rare local variety, Oseleta, which they were the first to introduce into the blend of their top Amarones.

Masi were also pioneers of the ‘reinvention’ (Sandro Boscaini’s term) of Amarone, resolving many of the technical issues inherent in its artisan production and giving the ‘Baroque’ Amarone of the past a restyling in favour of a more modern profile, with bright fruit definition, fresh acidity, soft tannins and balanced alcohol.

None of this implies the compromising of the character of Amarone, however. The Costasera Classico is a modern Amarone, but stylistically within the canons of a certain orthodoxy. Masi might represent innovation but they also stand staunchly for tradition. On the issue of appassimento, for example, Sandro Boscaini is highly critical of the current trend in Valpolicella towards the drastic reduction of the period of grape drying – ‘It is impossible to make Amarone with less than 100 days appassimento,’ he said.

The Masi wine family

Masi has an annual output of 12 million bottles, a total area of 1,300ha in production and a grape supply supplemented by what Sandro Boscaini describes as an ‘extended family’ of 40 long-term contract growers.

The core production is Veronese and comprises the full range of Valpolicella together with the two other classics of the region, Soave and Bardolino. There are five Amarone: Costasera and its Riserva come from the selected hillside sites, while Mazzano, Campolongo di Torbe and Vejo Amaron are single-vineyard cru.

Beyond the regional confines, Masi own a 100ha estate in Friuli and have a controlling share in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore house of Canevel. In the Trentino they manage the prestigious Bossi Fedrigotti estate in a collaboration similar to the long-established one with Serego Alighieri in Valpolicella.

The most recent acquisition, in partnership with Serego Alighieri, is a large estate in the Montecucco DOC in southern Tuscany, but the most intriguing project is the organic Tenuta La Arboleda in Tupungato, Argentina, where Masi have planted Corvina alongside the native Malbec and have introduced air-drying of the grapes in the Veronese style.

The diversification of production is not only horizontal. At one end of the range, Masi make the historic single-vineyard Amarones which rank among Italy’s great red wines. (The adjective historic is used advisedly – there is documentary evidence that vineyards existed at Mazzano and Torbe, on the slopes where Masi make two of their cru wnes, in the year 1194).

At the other end of the range, nothing could be more contemporary than the newly released Masi Fresco line, which ticks all the young consumer market research boxes of organic, light, fresh, anytime drinking.

Looking ahead

The Masi of the future will continue to grow. New plantings have recently been completed in the valley of Negrar and more are planned. Stewardship of the land will continue to be a priority. Eight kilometres of ‘marogne’ (the dry stone walls which support the hillside terraces) have been restored and the long and laborious manual work continues.

Estate management will become increasingly environmentally sensitive, with the development of the Masi Green project already in operation, which aims to improve the company’s sustainable credentials in all aspects of the production process, from vineyard management to packaging.

Wine tourism, already well-developed at the Canova estate on Lake Garda, will be an increasingly important focus, with the completion of the giant multi-functional visitors’ centre at Monteleone, which will also house a revolutionary grape drying facility.

The company was the first wine producer to be quoted on the Italian stock market, but not too much should be read into the move – the Masi of the future will remain firmly family-owned and managed, as it has been for the last 250 years.

Masi’s Amarone crus

Serego Alighieri, Vaio Armaron, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

This vineyard selection comes from the estate of Serego Alighieri at Sant’Ambrogio, which Masi has managed since 1973. Armaron is the name of the valley (‘Vaio’ in Veneto dialect means ‘dry river valley’) and is considered one of the historic ‘cru’ of Valpolicella. The southwest-facing vines are located at 250m above sea level on colluvial soils.

It is the most immediately expressive of the cru wines on the nose, with a distinctive raisined grape character and often botrytis notes of truffle. First bottled in 1979. Average annual production: 40,000 bottles

Masi, Campolongo di Torbe, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

Torbe is a tiny village at the top of the valley of Negrar. The Campolongo vineyard stretches for around 10ha along a terraced ridge facing southwest at 375-400m with red ferrous limestone soils of volcanic origin. The grapes are dried in lofts on site. The style is rich, fleshy and full bodied, with the classic cherry and almond character of Valpolicella. First bottled: 1958. Average annual production: just over 15,000 bottles.

Masi, Mazzano, Amarone Classico della Valpolicella

At 415m above sea level, Mazzano is one of the highest sites of the DOCG zone. Located in a steep, woody area on the opposite side of the valley of Negrar to Torbe, the 8ha vineyard faces west on terraces which follow the contours of the slopes on stony marl soils. The 60-year-old vines are trained on the traditional pergole. Here, too, the grapes are dried in nearby open lofts. Mazzano is the most austere of the three Amarone cru, more subtle on the nose but with great elegance on the palate. First bottled: 1964. Average annual production: around 14,000 bottles.

A taste of Masi: 17 wines rated

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A delegation of wine producers from Victoria’s King Valley met with members of the Australian parliament in Canberra to reinforce their campaign to maintain access to the Prosecco name.

Their visit follows fresh talks between Australia and the EU on a possible free trade deal, which may impact who gets to use the term Prosecco for sparkling wines in the Australian market.

A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the Sydney Morning Herald that EU negotiators had wanted to add Prosecco to a list of Geographical Indications (GIs) protected under a pre-existing wine agreement between the two parties.

Prosecco from a defined part northern Italy is a protected GI in the EU, and Italy’s Prosecco DOC Consorzio has also secured trademark rights to the name in several other countries.

It’s a long-running issue for Australian winemakers, who have highlighted that Prosecco existed as a grape variety name prior to Italy creating the Prosecco DOC zone in 2009 and subsequently gaining GI status. The new zone adopted the grape variety name ‘Glera’, a Friulian synonym.

‘It is important to protect access to the name Prosecco as when we planted our vineyards in the late 1990s and early 2000s here in Australia, the grape variety we planted was Prosecco,’ said Natalie Pizzini, of family-owned Pizzini Wines in Victoria’s King Valley.

‘Australian grape and wine producers have invested many millions of dollars in the grape variety and our production is now worth A$200m in annual sales domestically,’ she told Decanter, after visiting parliament this week. Rebranding would require millions of dollars of further investment, she said.

The European Commission reported significant progress in discussions on GIs in general after the latest round of face-to-face trade talks with Australian officials in October. ‘Positions on solutions for prior use conflicts came closer,’ it said, without giving specific details.

‘We know that it is a contentious issue,’ said Pizzini. ‘We can only hope that once negotiations are complete that we all end up with a deal we are happy with.’

She added, ‘We are cautiously optimistic about our ability to continue with the use of the name Prosecco but until the deal is done, we will be championing our cause.’

Italy’s Prosecco DOC Consorzio has said protecting trademark rights is a central mission, and has previously cited the DOC’s strong reputation with consumers.

It recently celebrated protected status in New Zealand, following the country’s trade deal with the EU, as well as trademark registration in China.

Alessandra Zuccato, responsible for Consorzio trademark protection activities, said of the New Zealand deal in August, ‘This protection is particularly significant, given the fact that a country so distant from us recognises that we are a Denomination of Origin and it inhibits, after five years since the implementation of this agreement, the “Australian Prosecco” trading, which sees New Zealand as its number one destination in terms of export.’

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The 2017 vintage will probably be remembered as good but not great in Valpolicella. There are positives – but also some question marks. In the words of Marco Sartori, owner-winemaker at the Roccolo Grassi estate, ‘It was not a classic vintage’.

The summer of 2017 was one of the hottest since 1994, with record peaks in July and average temperatures consistently above the 30-year average from May to August. Valpolicella however was spared the worst extremes, escaping serious damage during the frosts which hit other regions of northern Italy in April, in part thanks to the traditional high-trained pergola system, which keeps the canopy out of the danger area close to the ground.

Providential rain in June and July helped to keep drought stress within manageable levels. Picking began early and was generally over by the first week of September, up to 10 days ahead of the norm. Specific data for Amarone are not available but in the Veneto as a whole, production was down 20% on 2016. For Amarone too, in terms of quantity, it was certainly a small vintage.

Amarone 2017

As for quality and style, sugar levels were high and malic acid was low, making for wines with softness and breadth but in some cases lacking the structure that supports long ageing. Aromatically, the wines have the features of a hot vintage, tending on the whole to be more leafy than floral with quite subdued fruit.

Harvesting dates were more critical than ever. Wines picked early, to keep acidity, but before complete phenolic ripeness, tend to have slightly green tannins, while those picked later can be jammy. One positive – and this is a spin-off of the climate change that is bringing ever hotter, drier summers – is that the health of the grapes was excellent everywhere.

Overall, the wines do not appear to have the power and complexity of the outstanding 2016s, when everything went right for growers, or the fresh fruit of the 2018s. Having said that, it pays to be cautious with definitive judgements because a lot of the top selections have yet to come out – many of the producers who showed wines in the official tastings this year will not actually be releasing them for another one, two, or even more years, and a lot of wine is still in barrels.

Amarone’s availability

Which brings us to one of the more confusing aspects of Amarone production. The minimum obligatory ageing for Amarone is two years (four years for the Riserva category). Producers, however, have very different policies on the length of ageing and on release dates.

This has two consequences. The first is that at any one time there may be as many as eight or nine ‘current’ vintages. The first 2019s are out and there is also good availability of the promising 2018s. The 2017 vintage, as we saw, is on the market but will continue to be released over the next few years. The excellent 2016 vintage is currently the most widely available, however some 2015s are still coming out. Amongst the good and the great, Quintarelli and Romano Dal Forno are currently selling their 2013s, and the most recent vintage of Bertani’s long-lived Classico and Masi’s super selection Mazzano is 2012.

The second consequence of staggered release dates is that it is difficult to understand the length of ageing of older vintages. Technically, 2017s released now are all Riservas but very few producers label their wines as such, which means that the 2017 Amarone you find currently on the shelves might be newly released after lengthy barrel ageing (the exact amount is at the producers’ discretion and not specified in the regulations) or bottled and put on sale two years ago.

Amarone styles

Broadly speaking, Amarone today can be divided into two stylistic groups: traditional and modern.

Traditional

Traditional Amarone typically features pale shades, complex mature aromas of dried fruit, refined tannins and alcohol which not infrequently creeps up to 17%. The traditional style is evolving, however. The botrytis notes which used to be a feature of Amarone in the past are much less frequent now, in part due to more careful grape selection and in part to the greater control that technology allows producers over the appassimento, or drying process.

Also, the spicy character which is typical of ageing in larger Slavonian oak barrels is less commonly encountered these days, as producers move over to smaller format French oak.

Modern

The modern style is by now well established. It aims for fresher, fruitier and less raisined wines. Earlier picking, lighter drying and evolution in barriques make for wines with saturated colours, Corvina-varietal aromas and juicy palates, often with gritty oak tannins in their youth.

The broad division does not tell the whole story, however, because there are nuances. One important variable is that of residual sugar. There is a recognised style of Amarone with an openly declared sweet fruit quality, known locally as reciotato (from Recioto, the name of the original sweet wine of Valpolicella), which is perhaps less popular today but still has a following.

The trend, however, is towards drier wines and this is reflected in the revised production norms of 2019, which reduced sugar levels from a maximum 12g/l to 9g/l. At the top end of the scale, the sugar is evident but below 4g/l, which is the level most producers of the modern style aim for, it is barely perceptible.

Vintage (with certain caveats) is a fairly reliable guide to style. Wines with the minimum two years of ageing are logically far more likely to represent the fresher, easier-drinking style. Amarone coming out now from 2019 and the cooler 2018 vintage fall very much into this category.

In the case of intermediate vintages, it pays to know house styles. The 2017, for instance, has examples of both more traditional Amarone and fresher ones. Recchia, Begali and Tedeschi’s Ansari lean towards the former, while Montresor, Pasqua and Cà La Bionda are in the more modern style. Cà La Bionda’s enologist, Alessandro Castellani says, ‘I want my Amarone to taste the least possible of appassimento.’

Wines from older, later-released vintages will be more concentrated and are far more likely (but not always) to be in the classic mode.

Vintage is not the only indicator of style, however. Terroir – in the widest sense – also plays an important role. In part in observance of long-established winemaking traditions, and in part due to soil and climate influences, Amarone from the Classico area tend to be broader and more full-bodied with more dried fruit character.

On the other hand, to the east of the historical production area, wines from the valleys of Valpantena (Bertani; La Collina dei Ciliegi), Mezzane (Massimago; Roccolo Grassi) and Ilasi are typically firmer with tighter tannins, less glossy textures and fresh fruit characters.

What are the best food pairings for Amarone?

The concentration, complexity and sheer alcoholic punch of these dried-grape wines make them challenging to pair with food and difficult to contemplate drinking throughout a meal.

Conventional wisdom, that finds ample consensus in the recommendations on producers’ back labels, is to drink Amarone in autumn and winter with game, mature cheese and hearty stews – in Verona, for example, the traditional slow-braised horse meat dish called Pastissada de Caval. When in Rome…

More audacious pairings are also possible with Amarone, however. At a recent tasting workshop at the Valpolicella consorzio, chef Nicola Portinari from the double Michelin-starred La Peca restaurant in the province of Vicenza proposed different styles of Amarone paired with a menu of roasted scallops with fermented asparagus, grilled eel and watermelon, meaty ravioli with horseradish sauce and mustard, and slow cooked pork cheek with cherries.

If you’re looking to enjoy Amarone at home rather than in a restaurant setting, a simpler and very satisfying match for a traditional Amarone with a little residual sugar is ripe stilton and walnuts. At the end of the day, however, food might just be a distraction and there is a lot to be said for enjoying a great Amarone from a top producer all by itself – what Italians call a ‘vino da meditazione’.

When should Amarone be drunk?

One of the beauties of Amarone is that, although it is capable of prodigious ageing, on the whole the wines are very close to their drinking date when they come out. Wines with a lot of new oak benefit from an extra year or two in the bottle but generally there is no great need to lay them down for long periods.

The 2019s and 2018s, which in terms of drinkability are closer to a Valpolicella Superiore than a mature Amarone, are very enjoyable now. The 2017s should keep and improve over the next 8-10 years but may start to fade a little early. More structured vintages like 2015 and 2016 will certainly have a longer life and are a good choice to put aside for a special occasion.

Five organic Amarone estates to know

Corvina, the principal Amarone grape, suffers from a susceptibility to mildew and mould which makes organic viticulture challenging in a climate with typically abundant summer and autumn rain.

Climate change may offer greater opportunities in the future, but at present there are only a limited number of certified organic growers in Valpolicella. Here are five worth knowing:

Cà La Bionda

Campagnola’s Caterina Zardini estate

Massimago

Mont’Albano

Novaia

Five great value Amarone

Affordable for more relaxed drinking, or a little more expensive but well worth the extra – here are five great value Amarone.

See the tasting notes below

Cantine Giacomo Montresor, Amarone della Valpolicella

Farinam Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

Monte Santoccio, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

Pasqua, Famiglia Pasqua, Amarone della Valpolicella 

Recchia, Masùa di Jago, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

Richard’s top Amarone 2017 recommendations

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Valpolicella: panel tasting results

Amarone della Valpolicella 2016: A first look

Styles of Amarone: Twelve wines to try

The agreement formed part of a bilateral trade agreement between the European Union and the Kiwi government.

It affords sparkling winemakers in Veneto trademark protection, ensuring that fizz produced in other countries cannot be labelled ‘Prosecco’ in New Zealand.

This represents another symbolic victory for Prosecco producers in Italy. In December 2021, the Consorzio di Tutela Prosecco DOC celebrated a similar agreement in China.

The Consorzio launched the application for GI protection in China all the way back in 2014, but a trade body called Australian Grape and Wine Incorporated objected.

There are 120ha of Prosecco vineyards planted across 11 regions in Australia. The Dal Zotto family brought cuttings of the grape from Valdobbiadene in Veneto to Australia’s King Valley and planted the first vines in 1999.

A decade later, when government officials in Veneto realised how popular their bubbly was becoming in export markets, they sought to protect it.

However, you can only protect a geographical region – such as Champagne or Scotch whisky – as opposed to a grape. As such, they decided to change the name of the Prosecco grape to its Friulian synonym – Glera – in 2009, and announced that the name Prosecco was for the DOC.

Yet Australia already had its own Prosecco industry by then, and it now produces around 20 million bottles per year.

China did not want to wade into that dispute between Italy and Australia, so it did not approve the consortium’s application.

That all changed when the Australian government called for an international investigation into China’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan.

Beijing responded by slapping a 212% tariff on imported wine from Australia as a retaliatory measure, causing the country’s wine exports to plummet by 19% in one fell swoop.

It then approved the Consorzio’s recognition for GI status in China to rub further salt into Australia’s wounds.

New Zealand is the number one export market for Australian Prosecco, so the Consorzio is pleased to have secured the latest agreement.

‘This protection is particularly significant, given the fact that a country so distant from us recognizes that we are a Denomination of Origin and it inhibits, after five years since the implementation of this agreement, the “Australian Prosecco” trading, which sees New Zealand as its number one destination in terms of export,’ said Alessandra Zuccato, who oversees trademark protection activities at the Consorzio.

Stefano Zanette, president of the Prosecco DOC, added: ‘The Consorzio has relentlessly undertaken legal actions against the innumerable evocation cases that took place all around the world, operating tenaciously to structure a solid protection basis. Now these great efforts are finally producing the long-awaited results.’

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Venice is bliss for wine lovers. Driving is out of the question for a start, and the day is traditionally punctuated by breaks at the city’s many bacari (wine bars) for a small glass with cicchetti, the bite-sized snacks that Venetians do so well. The wine choice is largely local, popular varieties including the fruity Manzoni Bianco, dry Tai (also known as Friulano or Sauvignon Vert) and juicy red Raboso. The role of the landlord, or oste, is even more central here than elsewhere – and be they brusque, friendly or eccentric, they’re sure to leave an impression.

Together with its outlying islands, Venice has a deeply ingrained winemaking history, and grapes continue to grow in gardens and courtyards. You can even eat under vines at restaurants such as Corte Sconta (see No3, below) and Pizzeria alla Strega, where a rare Bacò vine provides a courtyard canopy.

Twelve years ago, the Consorzio Vini Venezia launched a project to safeguard the city’s forgotten vines, unearthing an incredible 70 varieties, 18 of which now grow in a vineyard behind the 17th-century Carmelitani Scalzi church. The vines are part of the walled Giardino Mistico, laid out in seven areas representing the order’s teachings and also home to olives, woodland and herbs such as Melissa moldavica, used for a herbal tonic made here since 1710. The vines include six types of Malvasia, once so important locally that the most prestigious wine shops of 16th-century Venice were known as malvasie, specialising in wines from Greece.

Malvasia Istriana, together with Glera, now grows at another vineyard, the city’s oldest, bequeathed in 1253 to Franciscans who built their San Francesco della Vigna church around it. Since 2019, the vineyard has been owned by the Santa Margherita group (famed for its Prosecco and Pinot Grigio), which is also restoring the original chapel. The first wines should be released in 2023.

No stay in Venice is complete without a trip to the islands, especially the trio where the lagoon’s first, 5th-century settlers lived: Torcello, home to the famous Locanda Cipriani and a Byzantine basilica with glorious mosaics; Burano with its brightly painted houses; and peaceful Mazzorbo linked by bridge to Burano.

It’s here on Mazzorbo that the Bisol family runs the lovely Venissa wine resort (see below). Surrounded by sea, with a clever drainage system to protect the vines, the resort’s walled vineyard of traditional but rare Dorona vines produces two intense, deep-golden wines made with extended skin contact, including Venissa, sold in 50cl bottles with gold-leaf labels (2014, £150 Fine & Rare).

Astonishing at any time of year, Venice’s charm is only enhanced by winter mists when the welcoming glow of cosy interiors becomes magical, even more so during carnival (next one, 11-21 February 2023), when curiously costumed figures are a regular sight. Wander the city, explore the quiet side-canals and embrace the voluptuous Venetian hospitality when you come upon another wonderful bacaro.

My top 10 in Venice

1. Cantina Do Mori

Step back in time at Venice’s oldest bacaro, dating from 1462. Order a local white, such as Manzoni Bianco, Verdiso or Tai, at the long wooden bar and perch on a stool to ponder which of the array of cicchetti bites to try next: perhaps the typical creamy baccalà mantecato cod with polenta, the baby octopus or salami crostini. Sestiere San Polo 429

2. Cantinone già Schiavi

One of Venice’s best-loved historical bacari is also a well-stocked wine shop specialising in bottles from northeastern Italy. Join the locals for a glass and selection of delicious cicchetti such as octopus and celery, cuttlefish and samphire or the traditional sarde in saor (marinated sardines). Standing room only, but you can perch out on the canalside, not far from the San Trovaso gondola boatyard.

3. Corte Sconta

A menu of top-quality seasonal seafood such as fried soft-shell crabs, monkfish, tuna or bream, and delicious homemade bread and pasta, in a charming location with a simple interior and a wonderful 150-year-old Glera vine providing a canopy for the internal courtyard garden. The wine list presents an ever-changing selection of labels from small-scale ethical producers selected by owner Marco Proietto.

4. La Sete

Just off the bar-lined Fondamenta Misericordia and behind the same management’s Da Rioba restaurant, this cosy, recently opened brick and wood-beamed bar specialises in artisan wines from all over the world – about 10 are available by the glass at any time, always including something local. Owner Tommaso Milner’s family land on Sant’Erasmo island also provides fresh veg for the dozen other restaurants of the island’s Osti in Orto horticultural project.

5. Mercato di Rialto

Take the Santa Sofia traghetto (gondola ferry) from the Cannaregio district to this historic market. This is where restaurant chefs source the freshest fish and vegetables, including the celebrated artichokes from Sant’Erasmo, the island known as Venice’s vegetable garden. While here, shop for regional cheeses such as Morlacco and Asiago at Casa del Parmigiano and stop for wine with mini panini next door at tiny Al Mercà.

6. Osteria “I Rusteghi”

Take a seat in the cosy interior of this upmarket version of the typical bacaro and order choice charcuterie from small producers, Prosecco-infused or grape skin-aged cheeses and something from the small daily menu, which might include scampi in vermouth or pasta with mullet roe. Ask owner Giovanni about the extensive wine collection and round off with buranelli biscuits dipped in a luscious local passito.

7. Rizzo

Welcoming aromas hit you as soon as you enter the San Leonardo branch of this family-run bakery, as it’s here that the baking takes place for many of Venice’s restaurants and hotels. Try seasonal favourites such as focaccia Veneziana at Christmas, melt-in-the-mouth frittelle (fried dough balls with dried fruit) at carnival time, and simple buranelli and zaletti biscuits all year round, ideal with Verduzzo or Torcolato passito wines.

8. Trattoria “Alla Palazzina”

An atmospheric, wood-panelled space featuring a piano and a double bass, occasionally played by talented diners, and a spacious patio garden shaded by a leafy pergola make this a welcome refuge from the busy route through the Cannaregio neighbourhood. Relax over a mixed seasonal seafood starter, perhaps cuttlefish in black ink sauce or bigoli in salsa (thick spaghetti with sardines and onion), or simply stop for a drink during the afternoon.

9. Venissa

The relaxing atmosphere on the island of Mazzorbo is even more all-enveloping here. Rare Dorona vines grow in a historic walled vineyard that’s open to all for peaceful strolls and shares the space with pensioners’ allotments, the chef’s garden and a landmark bell tower. Eat at the one-star Michelin restaurant or informal Osteria, and book to stay at one of its five charming rooms overlooking the lagoon or the vineyard.

10. Vini da Gigio

Paolo Lazzari’s thousand-strong wine collection features about 40 available by the glass, and his sister Laura serves tasty seasonal specialities from the open kitchen. Favourites include crab risotto, fresh artichokes and asparagus from Sant’Erasmo island, duck and smoked spaghetti carbonara with tuna. A truly warm, friendly welcome, with centuries-old columns and beams sets the scene for memorable meals.

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Pieropan has been making wine from its base in the historic 15th century Palazzo Pullici in the picturesque walled town of Soave since 1880, when the company was founded by the town’s doctor, Leonildo Pieropan. In 1932, he bottled the first wine labelled as Soave, pre-dating the DOC by some 36 years.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for five Pieropan Calvarino wines

Pieropan’s reputation was firmly cemented during the 1970s. Leonildo ‘Nino’ Pieropan, Leonildo’s nephew, took over the estate from his father following his return from oenology school in Conegliano in 1967.

By this point, Soave was one of Italy’s biggest wine exports, its international popularity resulting in yields being pushed to their limits and more and more vineyards being squeezed in, spilling out onto the plains which aren’t as amenable to Garganega (the predominant variety for Soave) as the hillsides of the ‘Classico’ area which occupies just 1,500 hectares. Pieropan’s vineyards are all located in the latter.

Pioneer

Nino refused to make the mass-produced, low quality wines so many of his contemporaries were producing, eschewing the international varieties of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc (permitted additions to the blend) in favour of the local, traditional Trebbiano di Soave.

He pioneered an organic approach to viticulture and made a huge impact when he released his two single-vineyard bottlings of Soave Classico which showcased the diversity and potential of Soave’s terroir: Calvarino and La Rocca. ‘Nino didn’t prepare the road, he made the road,’ commented David Gleave MW of UK importer Liberty Wine during a recent vertical tasting of Pieropan’s Calvarino, held in the estate’s brand new winery (see the wines below).

Fast-forward to the early 2000s and Nino’s son, Dario had joined the winery after finishing oenological school. He persuaded Nino that the wines would benefit from longer ageing in bottle. The knock-on effect was that they soon reached the storage limit of their 1,000m² winery, located in the centre of Soave town.

A new winery

In 2015, the project to build a new winery began and a site was chosen just outside the town, a natural amphitheatre at the heart of Pieropan’s 40 hectares of vineyards in the Classico hills. It took five years to complete and is named ‘Leonildo Pieropan’ in memory of Nino, who passed away in April 2018 before the project was completed.

The fourth generation of the family – Dario and his brother Andrea – have been at the helm of the estate since 2017, when Nino became ill. They oversaw the final vintage in the old winery in 2018, but in 2019 – out of respect for their father -conducted the first vintage in the new winery while it was still under construction.

‘The harvest that year was very difficult,’ said Dario. ‘I had electricians and plumbers running after me, and there was still no accessibility. My mother told me I was crazy, but I had made up my mind.’

Pieropan’s single-vineyard Soaves

Pieropan produces a range of red and white wines but it’s the two flagship single-vineyard Soave Classico bottlings that steal the show:

Calvarino

Calvarino, the estate’s first vineyard – purchased in 1901 – is rich in clay and tufaceous basalt typical of the Soave hills. Nino chose this site as his first single-vineyard wine, first bottled in 1971. A blend of 70% Garganega and 30% Trebbiano di Soave, Calvarino is vinified and matured on its lees in glass-lined cement tanks for 12 months, then rested in bottle for several more months before release.

La Rocca

La Rocca, a vineyard on a limestone outcrop of Mt Rocchetta, was first bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1978. La Rocca was the first oak-aged Soave. This 100% Garganega wine is vinified in 2,500L barrels following a short period of skin-contact, and then matured for 15 months in various sizes of barrels before spending additional time in the bottle.

These two single-vineyard wines have become touchstones for the Soave denomination. While La Rocca takes on a richer, fuller character, Calvarino expresses a Chablis-esque mineral bite and impressive florality. David Gleave MW described Calvarino as, ‘one of the great Italian white wines.’

Calvarino 5

During the new winery project, Dario and Nino had begun work on a multi-vintage version of Calvarino, keeping aside some wine from each vintage in small vats. The result – Nino’s final act – is called Calvarino 5. Recalling the five years it took to build the new winery, it’s a blend of 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, and should be viewed as the ultimate expression of the famed vineyard.

Multi-vintage wines are rare outside of the world of sparkling wine but, especially with climate change causing everyone to rethink traditions, it seems Pieropan are continuing to innovate. Is this the future?

Calvarino: Past, present, future

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Michael Garner, Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW and Michaela Morris tasted 92 wines, with six Outstanding and 33 Highly Recommended.

Valpolicella panel tasting scores

92 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 6

Highly recommended 33

Recommended 52

Commended 1

Fair 0

Poor 0

Faulty 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release vintage reds from Valpolicella DOC and Valpolicella Superiore DOC

How encouraging to find ‘life beyond appassimento’! While nearly all Valpolicella DOC wine is produced from freshly picked grapes, much Valpolicella Superiore on the market these days includes at least a proportion of semi-dried fruit, blurring the stylistic lines that separate it from the other, richer-style Valpolicella denominations: Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto.

Scroll down for tasting notes & scores for the top-scoring Valpolicella wines

A good number of the higher-scoring wines from this panel tasting not only rely on freshly harvested grapes, but also include examples from the basic DOC category (such as the Valpolicella Classico 2020 from Montecariano). Two of the six Outstanding wines – Tommasi’s delicious Rafaèl 2020 and Flavio Prà’s elegant Corte Allodola, Flavs 2018 – are also, crucially, made from dedicated Valpolicella vineyards where the best of the crop is not creamed off for Amarone or Recioto: a recurring issue which frequently has a negative effect on the quality of the ‘simpler’ denominations.

Michaela Morris put the matter succinctly: ‘When so many regions around the world are struggling to keep ripeness and alcohol levels in check, Valpolicella’s strength is its ability to offer wines with elegance, lightness and modest alcohol. The region would do well to capitalise on this.’

Similarly, drinkers would do well to look beyond the deceptive simplicity of these wines to their sheer drinkability – seen at its best at this ‘simpler’ level. Youthful Valpolicella is such a persuasive and versatile food wine, the perfect match for pasta, pizza and lighter fare, and is hard to better when paired, for example, with pork-based dishes.

See all Valpolicella wines from the panel tasting

In a blind tasting, it’s easy for more subtle wines to be overlooked, especially among so many examples where appassimento has made a positive contribution. A lot depends on how long the fruit has been dried for, which clearly determines the degree of its influence.

A shorter period, such as the 15 days of Rubinelli Vajol’s Classico Superiore 2016, gently underscores the wine’s supple charm, while at about 60 days, as with Corte Canella’s Superiore 2016, you end up with something fleshier and more sumptuous, distinctly reminiscent of Amarone. The third option, a slightly later harvest, allows grapes to achieve a degree of sovramaturazione (‘surmaturité’ in French, or overripeness) and imparts a feeling of greater substance and depth of flavour. Buglioni’s 44 Verticale Classico Superiore 2019 is a good example.

The panel agreed on the overall charm and accessibility of the three most recent vintages (2020, 2019 and 2018), with 2019 showing particularly well. The 2017 wines seemed to be fully developed and indeed beginning to tire in a few instances. Both 2015 and 2016 were holding up well, while older vintages were also, perhaps a little surprisingly, still looking good. The oldest on show, Ca’ La Bionda’s CasalVegri Decennale Classico Superiore 2010 (from freshly picked grapes only), divided opinion dramatically, but nonetheless managed to retain remarkable freshness and vibrancy.

The classic, lighter style of Valpolicella can surprise with the longevity its overall balance and understated structure offers. More than 40% of the wines entered were rated Highly recommended or above: an exceptional achievement by any standards.

Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW summed up the thoughts of the panel neatly: ‘I think this tasting proves that Corvina is capable of expressing terroir and can sit alongside some of the top wines in the country.’

The top scoring Valpolicellas: 

The judges

Michael Garner is co-owner of Italian specialist Tria Wines, author of Amarone and The Fine Wines of Verona (£35 Infinite Ideas), and a DWWA Regional Chair for northern Italy

Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW is a wine consultant, writer, judge and WSET educator. She consults to restaurants and wineries, acts as an ambassador for wine trade bodies, and was Regional Chair for Veneto at DWWA 2021

Michaela Morris is a wine consultant, lecturer, writer, judge and a WSET educator. A Regional Chair at DWWA 2021, she consults to restaurants and wineries, as well as acting as an ambassador for wine trade bodies

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An ocean of Pinot Grigio is produced at the ‘price-fighting’ end of the market, but this Italian staple grape, which is a mutation of Pinot Noir, reveals its true worth higher up the scale. Premium Pinot Grigio sets absolute quality as its main objective.

This means using the best fruit, harvested at low yields, and giving it maximum attention in the cellar – features that are reflected in the wines’ prices. For the purposes of this tasting, the bar was set at a minimum of £12 per bottle.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 18 excellent premium Pinot Grigio wines

Premium Italian Pinot Grigio is a far cry from the easy-drinking wines that make a virtue of their neutrality.

Pinot Grigio is typically a low-acid variety that, at its best, produces voluptuous wines of medium to high alcohol: they are aromatic, rich and full, with a sumptuous, almost oily texture.

Though usually at their peak within three to five years of bottling, some of the finest examples can benefit from further cellaring – up to 20 years in some instances. They are fantastic food wines, versatile enough to cope with both fish and white meats.

To maximise that distinctive luscious mouthfeel, beware of over-chilling them.

Regional Diversity

No less than 47% of the world’s Pinot Grigio vineyards are in Italy – and 86% of these (27,145ha out of 31,360ha) are planted in the Triveneto – the combined regions of Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Veneto itself, which form Italy’s northeastern tip. No other Italian region reaches even double-figure proportions.

Style varies across and within regions. In the Veneto, easily the largest production area, most Pinot Grigio is made from early-harvested fruit and malolactic fermentation is blocked in order to maintain a fresher, crisper, more commercially oriented style.

In the Trentino-Alto Adige, the higher-altitude wines, such as those from the Isarco valley, offer greater vibrancy and more mineral notes; the lower-lying sites, meanwhile, enjoy warmer temperatures that bring out a rounder, more mouthfilling character.

In Friuli, growing conditions are rather more homogenous, and winemakers make Pinot Grigio of impressive substance and richness. Many of the best examples come from near the border with Slovenia: Collio and Colli Orientali in particular, where lavish fruit characters are balanced by the salty and stony notes from the local ‘ponca’ (marl and sandstone) soils.

A little further south, the lower-lying Isonzo DOC produces wines that are typically weighty in style.

Mention must also be made of Friuli’s traditional Pinot Grigio Ramato. Made in a similar way to red wine, fermentation on the variety’s pinkish-grey skins for up to two weeks brings out copper-coloured tones (rame is the Italian word for ‘copper’) and increases both substance and structure.

This singularly dry and savoury style is coming back into fashion and is well worth seeking out.

Michael Garner is co-owner of Italian specialist Tria Wines and a DWWA Regional Chair for northern Italy. His second book Amarone and the Fine Wines of Verona (£35 Infinite Ideas) was published in 2017.

See tasting notes and scores for 18 premium Pinot Grigio wines

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Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia make up Italy’s very northeastern tip, and their most renowned vineyards lie near the national frontiers with Austria and Slovenia.

In Alto Adige, the main growing areas form a ‘Y’ shape with the city of Bolzano at its intersection and the conjoining valleys of the Adige and Isarco stretching outwards and upwards to the north, towards Austria.

In Friuli (as it’s commonly called) the key denominations of Colli Orientali, Rosazzo, Collio, Isonzo and Carso run right up to the border with Slovenia.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 10 top white blends from Friuli and Alto Adige

The influence of the shared heritage as part of the old Austro-Hungarian empire is still evident today: Alto Adige (an autonomous region since 1972) embraces its links with Austrian culture and German is still the first language for many; but while surnames over to the east often reveal Slavic origins, most of Friuli feels distinctly Italian.

The two areas spearhead Italy’s burgeoning fine white wine scene: according to the regional consorzi, 68% of wine production in Alto Adige is white and in Friuli almost 75%.

Both regions are probably best known for their single-varietal wines produced from many of the same grape varieties: Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon [Blanc or Vert]. The growing tendency, however, is to place greater emphasis on distinctive and often unique ‘top-end’ blends that are designed to show off the character of their local terroir.

The idea has been gathering momentum since the 1970s in both areas. The release of Jermann’s Vintage Tunina – a blend of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Malvasia Istriana and Ribolla Gialla (2017, £45.55-£47.76 Field & Fawcett, The Drink Shop) – in 1975 was a milestone for white wine production in Friuli. In the same year, Terlano was recognised as a separate sub-zone of Alto Adige and granted its own denomination, specifying for the ‘cuvée’, or white blended wine, a minimum of 50% Pinot Bianco along with smaller proportions of other grapes, in practice usually Chardonnay and Sauvignon.

The ‘international’ white varieties were introduced in the latter half of the 19th century into both areas through their Dual Monarchy ancestry and the necessary replanting of vineyards following phylloxera. Nowadays, many wineries are following in the footsteps of Jermann and Cantina Terlano, and clear patterns of production are beginning to emerge.

In Alto Adige, producers have adopted the classic Terlano mix of Pinot Bianco, Chardonnay and Sauvignon, while Friuli has seen a major shift towards varieties considered as autochthonous: Friulano [Sauvignon Vert], Malvasia Istriana and Ribolla Gialla. They often form the backbone of Collio Bianco and Colli Orientali Bianco wines, and, alongside Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Pinot Bianco, are permitted constituent parts of Rosazzo, a former sub-zone of Colli Orientali that was granted its own DOCG in 2011.

Alto Adige

The vineyards of Alto Adige share a bewildering mixture of soil types, elevations, altitudes and microclimates, and understanding them is key to knowing which variety works best in each locale.

Pinot Bianco-Chardonnay-Sauvignon blends are mainly produced from vines planted on the limestone-based soils of the hillsides along the right bank of the Adige as it flows southwest (between Bolzano and the southern boundary with Trentino), much the largest expanse of vineyard in the province. They are often ‘personalised’ with the addition of smaller proportions of other grapes – for example, in the village of Tramin, local hero Gewürztraminer gives a real sense of place to Stoan, Cantina Tramin’s proprietary blend (2019, £23.95 Fintry Wines). A few kilometres up the road, Hans Terzer, oenologist at Cantina St Michael-Eppan, adds Pinot Grigio to his premium white blend Appius.

Pinot Bianco, the region’s iconic white grape, remains the heart and soul of Terlano, the village sitting on the left bank and higher up the Adige river, just to the northwest of Bolzano, in an area where the soils are of volcanic origin (mainly porphyry). Cantina Terlano’s superpremium Rarity leans heavily on the variety; the current vintage (2008) is a cuvée of 85% Pinot Bianco, 10% Chardonnay and just 5% Sauvignon Blanc. ‘Sauvignon can dominate if you’re not careful,’ maintains Terlano’s sales and marketing director Klaus Gasser. ‘In any case, Pinot Bianco is the variety we always come back to.’

Towards the more extreme limits of the vineyards, producers look to other varieties for their inspiration. Conrad Pixner’s Bergkellerei Passeier sits high up in the Passeier valley, north of Merano, at St Martin in Passeier. His Giovo blend is made from equal parts Chardonnay grown at Tirolo just above Merano, and Solaris from vineyards close to the winery, the highest of which sits at 1,100m. Solaris, a disease-resistant variety originally bred at the Freiburg Institute in Germany in the 1970s, is finding favour in this area as its short growing season enables it to flourish at high altitudes. ‘When it ripens fully up here,’ says Pixner, ‘Solaris can accumulate enough sugars to achieve about 14% alcohol and still maintain 10g/L of acidity.’

At the southern tip of the area, the Franz Haas winery sits on the left bank of the Adige, across from Tramin. Back in the mid1990s, Haas put together an eclectic blend of Riesling, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer and Sauvignon called Manna, from vineyards at up to 800m in nearby Aldino, Egna and Montagna. His idea was to create a wine versatile enough to match a wide range of foods. In recent vintages he has cut back on the proportions of Riesling and Gewürztraminer in favour of Kerner, sourced from the Valle Isarco where this Trollinger/ Riesling cross seems to perform at its best.

Andreas Huber, winemaker at Pacherhof, blends Kerner with Sylvaner and Riesling high up above Bressanone, northeast of Bolzano, where these more aromatic varieties come into their own. His Private Cuvée epitomises the fresh, fragrant, mineral-toned wines with racy acidity that the Valle Isarco excels at.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Almost 10% of Friuli’s registered vineyards are planted to Friulano, the main grape behind most of the region’s premium blends. Blending with Malvasia Istriana and Ribolla Gialla is the favoured option in the Collio and Colli Orientali DOC and Rosazzo DOCG areas, though Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco and Sauvignon Blanc are also frequently used. Ribolla is not, however, authorised for DOC wines in Isonzo and Carso.

Collio and the premium areas of Colli Orientali (including Rosazzo) are made up of low-lying hillside sites of marl and sandstone soils known locally as ponca, and growing conditions are much more homogenous than in Alto Adige. The varying proportions of grape varieties used and individual choices made by the winemaker thus have a more obvious bearing on style – for example, fermentation with extended skin contact is a popular way of maximising aroma, flavour and texture.

On his small family estate at Pradis between Cormons and Capriva, Roberto Picéch uses a relatively high proportion of Ribolla (40%), ferments Friulano on the skins and then ages his Collio Bianco Jelka in barrel, cement and bottle before release some five years after the harvest.

A little to the east, towards San Floriano del Collio, Robert Princic’s Gradis’ciutta blend is composed of 50% Friulano, 30% Malvasia and 20% Ribolla. He ferments in wood and the wine spends one year in barrel followed by 18 months in stainless steel before bottling; the extra ageing allows him to market Gradis’ciutta as an example of the rarely seen Collio Riserva.

Using that same mix and proportions of grapes, Ivan Muzic ferments his Collio Stare Brajde, a Decanter World Wine Awards Best in Show winner in 2021, in tonneaux followed by a year in bottle, for a style built on purity and freshness of fruit.

The legendary Picolit, the grape behind one of Italy’s rarest but very finest dessert wines thanks to its exceptional sugar/acid balance, also has a part to play here. A healthy percentage can transform a dry white blend into something really quite distinctive according to Marco Sara, one of a small group of producers at Savorgnano del Torre in the northern Colli Orientali, north of Udine, who have come up with the idea of creating a unique blend of Friulano and Picolit to best define their territory. ‘Using 30% of Picolit really sweetens up the slightly herbaceous fruit that can characterise Friulano in slightly cooler areas like ours,’ he notes. Usually playing more of a bit-part in blends (mostly at about 20%), Ribolla Gialla, as in Jermann’s Vinnae, can also perform extremely well as the dominant variety.

Best of the best

Though overshadowed by the rise in popularity of varietal wines over the past few decades, the blend is now back with a bang. Historically, vineyards throughout Italy were planted to an uvaggio, or a mix of grapes, and these ‘field blends’ are behind many of today’s premium blends.

However, another interpretation of the idea is designed to scale new heights. ‘With Nama, we wanted to create a wine that is the very essence of Nals Margreid,’ insists Gottfried Pollinger, CEO of Cantina Nals Margreid in Alto Adige. Homing in on vineyards from two of their top growers – a plot of Chardonnay at Magré, northeast of Trento, and small blocks of Pinot Bianco and Sauvignon at Nalles further north – oenologist Harald Schraffl came up with the Nama blend to express the character of their terroir in such a way as to appeal to international taste. The concept of ‘the best of the best’ allows the premium blend to take its place alongside the top varieties in a winery’s range. Nama captures that combination of ripe, succulent fruit, racy acidity and silky texture that represents the quintessential characteristics of the best Alto Adige wines.

Similarly, in Friuli, the premium blend typifies the white wine of real substance, majestically rich in aroma, flavour and texture that has earned the region its stripes. In both areas, these wines are built to last: a lifespan of 10 years or more in the best vintages is certainly realistic.

Garner’s selection: 10 white blends from Friuli and Alto Adige that demonstrate the best of the northeast

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The combined annual production of Prosecco DOC [exceeding 500 million bottles for the first time in 2020] and Prosecco DOCG [92 million bottles] has long since overtaken that of Champagne, which averages about 300 million bottles shipped annually. And easy accessibility has possibly created a certain over-familiarity and perception of uniformity among consumers. But Prosecco is evolving, offering diverse and exciting new routes into Italy’s most popular sparkling wine, in ways that challenge the stereotypes. As Luca Giavi, director of the Prosecco DOC consorzio says, the mindset needs revising. Today we have to think not of ‘Il Prosecco’, but of the plural ‘I Prosecchi’.

Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG

Modifications to the production norms in 2019 introduced two new categories into the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG: extra brut (up to 6g/L residual sugar) and the bottle-refermented Sui Lieviti (on the lees). Incidentally, both categories were already officially recognised in the smaller DOCG of Asolo Prosecco, across the Piave river.

Bottle-refermented Prosecco – rather than by the commonly used Charmat ‘tank’ method – has long been produced in the DOCG area, but until recently it lacked official recognition. Following a method pre-dating modern vat refermentation, Sui Lieviti (also known as ‘col fondo’) is made by bottling still wine in early spring with its own sugar and fine lees to make a delicate, finely integrated bubbly and a bone-dry, tangy, citrusminerally character. The issue currently engaging producers is the carbonic pressure of this style of wine. Sui Lieviti is for full-on, bubbly ‘spumante’, while traditional wines, with roughly half the atmospheres, are officially ‘frizzante’.

Many producers, including the prominent Loris Follador at Casa Coste Piane and Christian Zanatta at Ca’ dei Zago, the winemaker who most closely represents the artisan tradition, have preferred not to move up into the spumante category on the grounds that the extra creamy texture that comes with it detracts from the character they wish to achieve in the wine. Others, such as Adami, Marsuret and Sorelle Bronca, make the more sophisticated spumante style without losing the slightly rustic authenticity. Both styles work.

If Sui Lieviti is about bubbles, the debate around the new extra brut category is about sugar. Despite the general trend towards ever drier styles, many producers have preferred not to take up the extra brut option and to stay in the comfort zone of the brut style (up to 12g/L residual sugar), where well-judged residual sugar helps to bring out the fruit and give flesh on the palate, without leaving a sensation of sweetness.

Brut wines tend to be more consistent than extra brut, but it could be argued that with their low sugar, the latter are a more direct expression of terroir. It has to be said, however, that not all sites are equally suited to the production of extra brut, and in this context the steep-sloped Rive sub-zones of the DOCG area acquire particular significance. The generally more subtle, delicately floral wines of Valdobbiadene can come across hard and lean in very dry styles, but can also have an exhilaratingly crisp, incisive purity if from, among others, the Rive of Colbertaldo (Miotto), Santo Stefano (Le Colture), Col San Martino (Bortolomiol), Farra di Soligo (Adami; La Farra), and Farrò (Sorelle Bronca). Wines from Ogliano in the Conegliano side of the DOCG (Biancavigna; Borgo Antico), on the other hand, are naturally broader and more structured, which makes for a very successful, rounded style of extra brut.

If bone-dry Prosecco is an invitation to revise expectations, late-bottled and mature vintages pose even more of a challenge to the common perceptions. In 2014, Paolo Bisol from Ruggeri put to one side a 4,000-litre vat and waited… He released the extraordinarily multifaceted Ruggeri, Cinqueanni (£55 The Great Wine Co) in 2019. The experiment proved that Prosecco can evolve finesse and complexity with age. The current vintage of Nino Franco’s outstanding Grave di Stecca Brut is 2015 (£20.32 Lay & Wheeler) and bottles back to 2008 are drinking perfectly (the 2013 is sublime). Also splendid are the 2016s from BiancaVigna, Merotto’s Cuvée del Fondatore, Bortolomiol’s Grande Cuvée del Fondatore and Ruggeri’s Vecchie Viti from 80-year-old vines (2019, £32.99 Valvona & Crolla). Though these may not be easy to find, they offer a glorious dimension to Prosecco that is rarely glimpsed, but which deserves to be cultivated.

Prosecco DOC Rosé 

The big news from Prosecco DOC in 2021 was the rollout of Prosecco Rosé – which finally received its official approval in late 2020.

Big is the operative word: the initial release was estimated at about 60 million bottles – a demonstration of the extraordinary productive potential of the zone, which stretches from Treviso in the Veneto across Friuli Venezia Giulia to Trieste on Italy’s eastern border with Slovenia.

Take-up of the Rosé DOC has been immediate, not least because more than half of the current Prosecco DOC producers were already making a generic sparkling rosé prior to the arrival of the new denomination. The task of the Prosecco consorzio, which coordinated the various stages of research that led to the creation of the new DOC, was to establish stylistic consistency and quality standards for this heterogeneous production and pave the way for what is destined to become the Italian pink sparkler. It would make an interesting case study.

Prosecco Rosé is based on a quite strictly defined cuvée of 85%-90% Glera and 10%-15% Pinot Nero (vinified as red wine). There was canvassing for the inclusion of native varieties such as Raboso in the Veneto or Refosco in Friuli Venezia Giulia, but Pinot Nero was the logical choice, since it has been widely grown in both regions since the late 19th century.

Refermentation is by the widely used Charmat method, in tank, and wines must age on the lees for a minimum of 60 days. Declaration of the vintage is mandatory.

Much of the research that went into the formulation of the production norms for Prosecco Rosé revolved around the fundamental issue of colour, with micro-vinification experiments juggling the variables of yield, percentages of the blend and time on lees.

The outcome is a shade of pink which corresponds closest to ‘peach’ on France’s Côtes de Provence scale and also, given the presence of Pinot Nero, recalls a pale Sancerre rosé. In terms of sugar levels, nearly three-quarters of the current production is extra dry (12-17g/L) and most of the rest is brut.

The consorzio’s declared objective is to maintain the charm and immediate appeal of Prosecco, with an extra touch of individuality. The first impression, in this regard, is that the wines hit the spot; the Pinot adds a little structure and a note of red fruit to the gentle floral character of the Glera. At the top end of the extra dry scale, the wines may come over a little sugary for some tastes, but the drier Prosecco Rosé styles add a quintessentially Venetian touch to light fish dishes at a candlelit supper.

A selection of high-scoring Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG and Prosecco DOC Rosé:

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The celebrated red wine of the Veneto, and one of Italy’s most recognised wine styles, Amarone della Valpolicella has broad appeal.

From elegant and refined styles to rich, velvety, full-bodied wines, Amarone’s flavours range from ripe red cherries, plum and dried herbs to figs, roses, dark chocolate, coffee and smoky vanilla, often with a sensation of sweetness.

‘Few wines are quite so hedonistic’ writes Italian wine expert Michael Garner in Decanter’s Amarone: a buyer’s guide.

Winemaking greatly affects the different styles and quality of Amarones, with decisions around the appassimento drying process and ageing being critical, which is why it can be difficult to know which type of Amarone you’re getting.

This is where a look to Decanter World Wine Awards results is helpful. With over 100 Amarones judged by regional specialists at the 2021 competition, results reveal top-quality, expert-recommended styles worth discovering.

Scroll down to see the top-scoring Amarone wines and tasting notes from DWWA 2021

Garnering the attention of the judges and excitement from the DWWA 2021 Co-Chairs, Sarah Jane Evans MW commented during judging week, ‘I’ve just had an Amarone which I could keep describing to you. It is just something that goes on and on. One sip is 5-minutes’ worth of enthusiasm – that’s really something I’m excited about when judging.’

On judging wines from the Veneto, DWWA judge and The Wine Society buyer Sarah Knowles MW added, ‘the Amarones did very well, so we had a few good winners there with classic Amarones and more modern styles coming through.’

Blind tasted in carefully organised flights including region, vintage and price point, results highlight the standouts, with more than 15 Amarones scoring 95+ points. Discover them here…

Top-scoring Amarones: 95+ point wines to seek out

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva

Zýmē, La Mattonara 2008

Platinum, 98 points

Stewed red and black fruit aromas with smoky vanilla spice and a herbal touch. A powerful palate with raisin, fig and coriander seed flavours, well-integrated oak and silky tannins. Astonishingly fresh considering the vintage.

La Collina dei Ciliegi, Ciliegio Armando Gianolli 2011

Platinum, 97 points

Dried herbs, red cherries and spice bouquet. Great freshness on the palate with red cherries, coffee, wood spice and hint of mushrooms. The tannins are silky with fresh acidity and the finish is long.

Farina, Mezzadro Alla Fontana 2011

Gold, 96 points

Smoky, vanilla with stewed fruit and coffee nose. Great fruit concentration of red plums in the mouth, fresh acidity and forest floor aromas on the finish.

Albino Armani, Cuslanus 2015

Gold, 95 points

Dried herb aromas with baked red plums. Great concentration of ripe black fruits on the palate with sultana notes and a fruit sweetness that balances the alcohol.

Scriani 2015

Gold, 95 points

Attractive aromas and flavours of ripe red plums, cherries with a hint of dried herbs. Fresh acidity and silky tannins on the palate and a pleasing finish.

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

Scriani 2016

Platinum, 97 points

A beautiful wine with glorious creamy vanilla and baked fruit aromatics. It has loads of sweet dried dark fruit, coffee and chocolate notes, a dense texture, sweet spice and ample velvety tannins. Simply electrifying in its superfine acidity and length.

Le Ragose 2010

Gold, 96 points

Very elegant nose of aromatic Mediterranean herbs, dark chocolate, coffee and ripe juicy red cherries. Multi-layered palate with soft and silky tannins, lingering finish.

Zeni, Nino Zeni 2013

Gold, 95 points

Inviting nose with elegant aromas of fennel and dill under richer tones of plummy fruit and vanilla. Big and rich palate with a wealth of concentration.

Amarone della Valpolicella Valpantena Riserva

Tezza, Brolo delle Giare 2013

Gold, 95 points

Opulent nose of rich strawberry and cassis seasoned by chocolate and cinnamon with fresh nuances of thyme and rosemary. Powerful body and tannins, incredible length.

Amarone della Valpolicella

Cantina di Verona, Pagus Bisano 2018

Platinum, 97 points

A full-bodied, rich and superb traditional style with a good amount of red and black plums on the nose, plus some vanilla and leather, all of which follow to the mellifluous, poised palate. It’s high class and very high quality. Outstanding!

Cantina Valpantena, Torre del Falasco 2016

Platinum, 97 points

Stunning fruit cake, vanilla and spice nose, touch of wood spice and red cherry. Palate brings lush dark fruits, a creamy texture, well-integrated chocolaty tannins and fresh acidity. Lovely mocha-like persistence on the finish.

La Giuva 2016

Platinum, 97 points

Exceedingly inviting creamy oak, baked red fruit, fig, caramel and molasses nose. Beautiful! Good fruit concentration in the mouth with baking spice, hints of dried herbs and red berries. Very rich and concentrated with big, round tannins. Superb!

Cantine Giacomo Montresor 2017

Gold, 96 points

Inviting and complex nose displaying aromas of juniper, blueberries, chocolate covered cherries, thyme and black olives tapenade. Big and savoury palate, rich and rounded, powerful.

Cantina di Verona, Terre di Verona 2018

Gold, 95 points

A fantastic full-bodied but vibrant and characterful, modern style with a sweet spice nose, grippy tannins and pretty red and dark fruit flavours. Yes, there is a succulence as well. Long, warming finish. Fantastic!

La Collina dei Ciliegi, Ciliegio 2016

Gold, 95 points

Stunning fennel, red berry, dried tomato, cinnamon, vanilla and red rose nose. Dense and concentrated with refreshing acidity, fine-grained tannins and long, savoury finish. A fabulous combination of fruit and acidity.

Pasqua, Mai dire Mai 2012

Gold, 95 points

The nose suggests refined oak notes, with tobacco leafs, mushrooms and black olive notes over ripe dark fruit. Full-bodied with firm tannins, vibrant with a long finish.

Search all DWWA 2021 award-winning wines from the Veneto

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There are eight appellations in France where Crémant sparkling wines can be produced, including well-known names such as the Loire, Burgundy and Alsace, but did you know that Crémant can also be made in the Rhône and the Jura?

The grape varieties used in the production of Crémant across France vary, and depend largely on each region’s production rules. But what remains the same across all eight Crémant appellations is the production method – the way in which the wine achieves its sparkle.

Crémants are made using the traditional method – the same method used for Champagne, where the second fermentation takes place in the bottle.

Which grape varieties are used in Crémant wines?

Grape varieties depend on locality and will draw on the varieties used to make the still wines of each region.

Chenin Blanc dominates Crémant de Loire, while Pinot Noir and Chardonnay form the backbone of Burgundy Crémant.

Crémant d’Alsace will use mostly Pinot Blanc, whereas in Bordeaux, red varieties tend to be used – Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, alongside the region’s whites such as Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

The Clairette grape variety holds the fort in Crémant de Die wines, often alongside Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains and Aligoté.

While Chardonnay is used for Crémants from the Jura, Limoux and Savoie, it is often blended with corresponding local varieties: Pinot Noir, Poulsard and Savagnin for Jura; Chenin Blanc, Mauzac and Pinot Noir for Limoux; and Jacquère, Altesse and Chasselas for Savoie.

The use of these local varieties in blends lends a unique flavour profile to each Crémant.

See a complete style guide to French Crémant, plus 120 wines tasted

Crémant has been making waves with retailers for the past few years and is now commonplace in both independents and supermarkets. This partly reflects the wines’ ability to offer value-for-money, but also extends and adds interest to a retailer’s range beyond Champagne, Prosecco and Cava.

Which French regions produce Crémant?

In order to label a sparkling wine as Crémant, each region must seek approval from France’s national appellation body, the INAO; an often joyless, bureaucratic procedure that can take years to reach fruition.

The following are the eight Crémant appellations in France, of which Crémant de Savoie is the most recent, approved by the INAO in 2014:

• Crémant de Bordeaux
• Crémant de Bourgogne
• Crémant d’Alsace
• Crémant de Loire
• Crémant de Die (Rhône)
• Crémant de Jura
• Crémant de Limoux (Languedoc-Roussillon)
• Crémant de Savoie

Can you age Crémant?

As so often in wine, there isn’t a hard and fast rule about this. That said, you can generally expect a good quality Champagne to out-live a good quality Crémant.

‘Crémants generally have a higher pH and phenolic content than Champagne, with low levels of both being crucial for longevity in sparkling wine,’ said Rob MacCulloch MW, in this response to a query on ageing Crémant. 

Which food pairs well with Crémant?

Most Crémant sparkling wines will have fairly high acidity so will stand up well to rich, oily or fatty dishes.

Sommelier Bert Blaize suggests pairing salmon en croûte with Crémant de Bourgogne. In his book Which Wine When, published in 2020, Blaize says ‘salmon en croûte is an indulgent way to serve what is already one of the richest fish there is, surrounding it in a layer of buttery pastry that would overwhelm more delicate flavours’.

Crémant de Bourgogne has ‘refreshing green apple and citrus flavours that will lift and showcase the fish’, says Blaize, while the ‘rich, buttery fullness’ found in the wine will work wonders with the pastry.

10 French Crémant sparkling wines to try:

Wines updated 15th December, 2021. Recommendations by Decanter’s editorial team.

See also:

Crémant: style guide plus 120 tasted

Wines to have with Christmas turkey 

What’s the difference between Champagne and Prosecco – ask Decanter

Some of the Veneto’s most renowned red and sweet wines have one basic process in common – appassimento. Decanter looks at what the technique entails and how it shapes the structure and flavour of the wines it produces.

What is appassimento?

Appassimento is the Italian term used for the process of drying grapes off the vine – i.e. it does not apply to vine-dried grapes (grapes dried while hanging on the vine). The process is almost as old as winemaking itself, with records going back as far as ancient Greece.

Grapes that undergo appassimento are harvested fresh and then allowed to dry before being vinified. The grapes are usually picked by hand so that only the best, healthiest fruit can be selected, and then carefully placed in small crates to avoid any damage or crushing.

There are places, such as the Sicilian island of Pantelleria or Santorini, in Greece, where grapes are dried under the sun. This allows the process to happen quickly, developing distinct and intense caramelised aromas.

In the Veneto, on the other hand, the grapes are dried in big, naturally ventilated warehouses, called fruttai. The bunches are laid out horizontally on wooden or plastic boxes and allowed to rest during the winter months and, because the process happens slower, the grapes have a chance to develop a more complex array of aromas and flavours.

Drying the grapes causes them to lose water and, consequently, sugar and flavour compounds are concentrated. Acidity is also concentrated but not at the same rate as other compounds (the total acidity in grapes undergoing a 40% dehydration rises not by 40% but by around 25%) significantly changing the structural balance of the resulting wines. Resveratrol and glycerin levels increase, lending balance, richness and a unique ‘glossy’ texture to the wines.

Noble rot (Botrytis Cinerea) may develop on the grapes during dehydration, further concentrating sugar and developing a specific set of aromas and flavours. While this is not desired by most producers, many use the effects of botrytis to add further complexity to their wines.

The duration of the drying process is a function of the grape variety, the intended wine style and the specific microclimatic conditions under which the process happened. In the Veneto, the drying of Garganega for white Recioto or Corvina, Corvinone or Rondinella for a red Recioto or Amarone will need three to four months, (even up to six months for Recioto). Ideal conditions include good aeration and mild temperatures, allowing for a gradual and clean dehydration.

Scroll down to see our suggestion for 15 appassimento wines from Veneto to try

Amarone

Appellation: Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG

Grape varieties: 45–95% Corvina, 5–50% Rondinella, and up to 50% Corvinone in the place of Corvina. It may also contain up to 15% of any red variety authorised in the province of Verona.

Characteristics: maximum 12gr/L residual sugar; minimum 14% abv.

Amarone is a result of the fermentation of the grapes which have undergone appassimento. As their sugar content was significantly concentrated, the potential alcohol is also greater often reaching 15-17%. At this point though the alcohol level kills off the yeast and therefore the wine is not fermented to complete dryness, with some sugars (up to 12 gr/L) left in both the wine and the pomace (the residue from the grapes, including skins and pips).

Due to the alcohol level and the long period of fermentation there is an intense extraction of both flavours and tannins, giving Amarone its distinct, powerful character. The luscious, bitter (amaro) aftertaste explains its name.

Recioto

Appellations: Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG, Recioto di Soave DOC, Recioto di Gambellara DOC

Grape varieties: Valpolicella DOC – same as Amarone above. Soave DOC – at least 70% Garganega and a maximum of 30% Trebbiano di Soave. Gambellara DOC must be 100% Garganega.

Characteristics: minimum 46 gr/L residual sugar; minimum 12% abv.

As Amarone, Recioto is made by fermenting raisined grapes, dried in fruttai over the autumn and winter months. However, fermentation stops well before the sugars have been converted to alcohol, resulting in an intensely sweet, less alcoholic wine. Fermentation can stop naturally, but the arrest is normally induced by the winemakers, usually by cooling the must, thus suppressing the yeast’s action, and then filtering it.

Ripasso

Appellations: Valpolicella Ripasso DOC Ripasso DOC (including a Superiore version) 

Grape varieties: same as Amarone above.

Characteristics: dry; alcohol levels usual between 13.5% and 14.5% abv.

Once dismissed as the ‘poor man’s Amarone’, Valpolicella Ripasso has seen an amazing comeback and is now extremely popular among consumers and sommeliers alike. The reason for its new-found popularity is its versatility and an alluring combination of the Valpolicella Classico’s vibrancy and Amarone’s intensity.

Ripasso is made through an induced second fermentation (a ‘second pass’) of a dry, basic Valpolicella Classico wine. The pomace of an Amarone is added to this base wine and the second fermentation kicks off, adding alcohol, flavour and tannins. A Ripasso therefore has some of the deep Amarone-like characteristics – hence being sometimes called a ‘baby Amarone’ – while retaining the nerve of a Valpolicella.

Some producers also produce Ripasso using the refermented must of Recioto, which creates a very soft, velvety and intense wine.

Five Veneto appassimento wines to try:

Related content

What is Valpolicella wine? – Ask Decanter

How to match Amarone with food plus the best wines to try

Croatia wants to make dessert-style wine prošek a ‘traditional term’ under EU law, but Italian wine body Federvini said the move was unacceptable and too close to the Prosecco name.

A tussle at EU level is looming after the Croatian government’s formal application to register prošek was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 22 September.

In response, Federvini said Italy has a 60-day window to oppose the move, which it described as ‘an assault on our culture’.

Micaela Pallini, Federvini’s president, said that EU recognition for the term prošek would be ‘highly misleading for international consumers’ and would penalise Italy’s Prosecco exporters, even if the similarity between the two is in the name rather than the wine style.

While Prosecco is a sparkling wine, Croatian ‘prošek’ is a sweet, dessert-style wine made from dried grapes, notably in the Dalmatia region.

It must be made from grapes that contain at least 150° Oe (Oechsle degrees) of sugar, according to the application published in the EU Journal.

Prošek may be red or white, and the ‘colour may range from dark yellow with shades of old gold to reddish with brown shades’, the Croatian government application states.

Prosecco’s DOCG council reiterated its opposition to the Croatia’s prošek proposal. ‘Today we must work as a team to protect our product and the name Prosecco, but also to avoid creating dangerous precedents,’ said Elvira Bortolomiol, president of Consortium Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore.

Italy’s agriculture minister, Stefano Patuanelli, has announced a task force to assess options following Croatia’s formal application to register ‘prošek’.

‘We are now part of the technical table set up by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, through which all the necessary counter measures will be put in place,’ said Bortolomiol.

A European Commission spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment on the next steps in the process.

According to Federvini, the Prosecco market is worth €2bn per year, with exports accounting for 50% of this amount.

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Chiaretto is Italy’s most popular rosé style. Officially known as Chiaretto di Bardolino, approximately 10 million bottles are produced each year from local grape varieties within the Bardolino DOC, on the eastern shore of Lake Garda.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 22 Chiaretto rosés

This is substantially more than any other Italian rosé but thankfully there are plenty of thirsty customers eager to consume the locally-produced pink – Lake Garda typically receives 22 million visitors every year according to the official Lake Garda tourism website (visitgarda.com).

But what has happened since the outbreak of the global pandemic? Have producers been forced to sit on stocks of their Chiaretto? The short answer is no – they have benefitted from an increase in direct-to-consumer sales as well as a healthy export market.

’In 2020, tourism on Garda Lake fell by 60%, but the Germans and Dutch still managed to visit – less than in previous years but still in significant numbers,’ said Angelo Perroti, director of the Consorzio di Tutela Chiaretto e Bardolino.

‘There has been a huge rise in the off-trade channel both in Italy and abroad,’ he continued, ‘and we have witnessed some good export performances in the first three months, with a 21% increase thanks to higher demand from US, UK and Scandinavia markets. All this has allowed 2020 Chiaretto sales to more or less match the level of 2019.

A recent preview tasting of the Chiaretto 2020 vintage demonstrated that the wines are good quality and reliably delicious. These Chiaretto di Bardolinos should be enjoyed while young with food – its low 12% alcohol makes it a perfect al fresco lunchtime rosé.

What is Chiaretto?

Chiaretto is the counterpart of the red Bardolino, both made from local grapes Corvina, Rondinella and Corvinone; up to 20% of other native varieties is also allowed.

The best examples are clean, elegant and saline, with vibrant yet subtle red fruits, citrus and stone fruits.

This is achieved with short macerations of around five to eight hours and gentle pressing to minimise extraction, low-temperature fermentation to highlight freshness, and indigenous yeasts.

Although they share the same grape varieties, vines destined for Chiaretto and Bardolino often occupy different sites. Vines used for Chiaretto are trained in such a way so as to preserve acidity, and are often found in flatter areas which encourage ripening, while vines for Bardolino tend to occupy exposed hillside locations for longer ripening and more complexity.

Fresher

Chiaretto’s success has been buoyed by its new pale pink colour, ushered in with the 2014 vintage. The new-look rosé, almost Provence-pale in colour, is more than skin deep, however. Fresher and lighter than its traditional rich, oxidised style, the updated regulations modernised winemaking techniques, such as shorter maceration times, to emphasise the fruity citrus character of Corvina, the wine’s main variety.

Quality rising

Since April 2021, Corvina is now allowed to make up a maximum of 95% of the blend, from a previous maximum of 80%. And while a decade ago there was just one organic-certified producer of Chiaretto, today over one-third of the 1,000 hectares under vine are farmed organically. These changes are intended to see the quality of Bardolino’s rosés rise even further in the coming years.

Read more about Chiaretto’s new style:

The Bardolino makeover plus 12 of the best worth seeking out

Light summer reds and rosés from the shores of Lake Garda: Bardolino and Chiaretto

Chiaretto di Bardolino: Factbox

Producers: 100

Growers: 800

Number of bottles sold in 2020: 9.5 million

Vineyard area: 1,000 hectares

Grapes: Corvina (min 40%, max 95%), Rondinella (min 5%, max 40%), Corvinone (max 20%). Maximum of 20% of other native varieties allowed.

Which vintage should I buy?

Generally, the most recent vintage is best, as Chiaretto these days is all about freshness. However, of 50 new releases I tasted, three were from the 2019 and 2018 vintages, demonstrating that some examples can age in the short term and develop some complexity.

2020 A regular vintage in terms of temperature and rainfall, with no extremes.

2019 Warmer and drier than 2020, with lower production.

2018 After the hot, dry 2017 vintage, many drought-affected vines in the appellation were replanted, which had a knock-on effect for the 2018 season.

Top Chiaretto 2020 wines:

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To ‘know your label’ has never been sounder advice than it is in the case of Soave. This northern Italian classic white has many facets, and the best guide is the system of denominations which distinguishes styles and places of origin.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 20 top Soave buys

The first distinction to make is between DOC and DOCG versions of Verona’s native white.

The DOC is certainly the most familiar. Typically (but not necessarily) unoaked, this is where you find the canonical citrus and almond character in a light, dry, zingy wine which flows over the palate with seductive moreishness.

It’s a style that fell a little out of favour in the past, perceived as overly simple, but it is currently reasserting itself with a new generation of winemakers.

DOC Soave can’t be beaten for pure pleasure, and its apparent simplicity can be deceptive: a bottle forgotten at the back of the cellar for a few years can reveal intriguing complexity of aroma and a perfectly intact palate.

The DOCG is reserved for the Superiore category. In this case, production terms impose lower yields, resulting in wines of increased concentration and higher alcohols. Generally (but not always) oaked and aged for longer, this is Soave with greater richness of texture and a complexity that may come from later-harvested grapes. Think more tropical fruit than citrus

Origin matters

The other important variable is zone of origin.

Soave Classico is from the historic production area in the hills behind the towns of Monteforte d’Alpone and Soave; the zone’s borders were first delimited in 1931. Soave tout court comes from larger and predominantly flat areas to the east and the west of the central hills. A third denomination, Soave di Colli Scaligeri, less frequently seen but decidedly worthy of note, relates to hills detached from the Classico area.

The common perception is that the best wines come from the Classico DOC, but this is a generalisation that does not necessarily reflect the reality of Soave’s patchwork of terroirs. The most recent refinement to the labelling system attempts to make sense of this complexity by identifying sites with specific characteristics known as Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive across all three denominations.

Officially introduced in 2019, there are 33 of these UGAs, which include recognised sub-zone denominations that were in use prior to the new legislation.

Some, such as Fittà, Foscarino and Froscà, are more familiar, while others such as Croce, Pigno and the enticingly named Paradiso are not exactly household names, but highlight how the Garganega grape responds to climate and, above all, soils. Wines from higher, cooler sites have a crisp intensity; those from lower slopes, more roundness.

Volcanic soils give wines with a whiff of smokiness and an unmistakable tangy quality; those from calcareous areas have more mouthfeel and more fruit than mineral character.

It would take a certain amount of dedication to assimilate all the information contained in the Soave regional consorzio’s excellent documentation of the UGAs, but the evidence in the glass is that they add a meaningful new dimension to the appreciation of a wine whose character is perhaps too often taken for granted.

Richard Baudains’ top 20 Soave buys

See also

Discovering Italy’s high-altitude wines plus 12 worth seeking out

Tuscany’s best recent vintages plus the top wines to try

Versatility of Vermentino: top dry white picks from across Italy