Pieropan: producer profile

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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