Soave in the springtime
Italy's most famous white wine is on a drive to rescue its chequered reputation: I went there to investigate. Plus: what I've been drinking this week
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Descending into the cellars of Cantina del Castello, inside the little town of Soave, history is tangible. The cellar is in fact older than the city walls, dating from the twelfth century. Meanwhile owner Marco Carlesso’s family have been in the wine industry here for four generations. His great-grandfather was a pioneer in the battle against the devastating vine disease phylloxera, which arrived here in 1905, and helped found the Soave Consorzio, representing local growers, in 1926.
So with this much history, why is Soave on a mission to re-establish itself as Italy’s most famous white wine? Because Soave is fresh, bright, clean – and for too long has had a reputation as plonk.
When the newly formed Consorzio drew up the boundaries of the Soave Classico zone in 1931, that area covered a total of 1,700 hectares, mostly on the hillsides above the southern villages of Soave and Monteforte d’Alpone, just east of Verona. This was the area whose white wines had historically been prized. Then after World War II it flourished, enjoying a boom in exports to the US especially.
But Soave became a victim of its own success: demand from the US and Europe ran ahead of supply. When in 1968 it won Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status, the official zone was expanded to around 7,000 ha, much of it on flat arable land. In later years it expanded again. Many growers also supplemented the traditional Garganega grape with the easier-to-grow Trebbiano di Soave (or Verdicchio, as it is known in Tuscany) and the even less distinguished Trebbiano Toscano, the workhorse white grape of central Italy. Cooperatives grew and big industrial producers moved in for a slice of the action.
The result was that Soave’s name became synonymous with cheap white plonk, the supermarket Pinot Grigio of the 1970s and 80s. And then, in the 1990s, the neighbouring Veneto region ramped up its production of actual Pinot Grigio, supplanting Soave internationally. “Large companies made low-priced wines, totally forgetting quality,” says Giulia Franchetto, winemaker at her family’s small estate in the east of the Soave zone.
The crash in Soave’s fortunes and reputation prompted a rethink. In 2001 the authorities created a new, smaller Soave Superiore appellation within the larger one, with Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita status (DOCG – an upper tier of quality created in 1980 because of the discrediting of Italy’s DOC system.) There followed a very long-winded effort to map Soave’s better-quality sites, culminating in 2020 in the classification of 33 “Unità Geografica Aggiuntiva” (UGAs – Additional Geographical Units) – essentially, Burgundy-style named crus.
However, these don’t yet have to appear on a wine’s label. ““There was confusion over how to use [the UGAs on labels] when they came in,” admits Cantina del Castello’s Carlesso. “The Consorzio changes what we can put on the bottles, but the market doesn’t start from the rules,” says David Mainente, third-generation winemaker at the family producer of that name. “Our wines are the same as they’ve always been.” Conversely, says Matteo Inama of his family’s wines, “We put the UGA on the label Before the UGA existed.”
Confused? Italians are too, and at a more basic level than the intricacies of UGAs. Lucia Vesentini of the Soave Consorzio says there are problems today in consumer perception of Soave in Italy. “The over-50s think it’s a more old-fashioned, easy wine, but younger consumers don’t know what Soave is.” The Consorzio is using social media influencers to promote the idea of Soave as an aperitivo, with publicity events planned this spring in Verona and Vicenza.
But in fact, Soave isn’t so complicated. Well-made but straightforward Soaves should be delicious, bright and fresh: Gini’s Soave Classico 2025 is joyous, from a great vintage, made only in stainless steel from a selection of grapes from 70 year-old vines (this vintage isn’t in the UK yet.) But Garganega can make much more serious and long-lived wines too. As La Cappuccina’s Sisto Tessari puts it, “You can make a simple Soave, one or two glasses, or it can last much longer.” His San Brizio Soave 2006 makes the point: a deep gold, complex and long, with weight and power and still lots left (sadly the only vintage available in the UK appears to be the 2018.)
The key to the better wines is better sites, many at over 500 metres altitude, and older vines. Matteo Inama emphasises that in the best crus there are subtle differences of terroir. Inama’s most important plots are in the Foscarino and Carbonare UGAs, immediately north-east of Soave town in the centre of the Classico zone. They both have the same volcanic soil, but the wines are different because of the vineyards’ contrasting aspects: Carbonare gets cool winds from north but Foscarino faces east and gets warmer winds, making slightly more generous wines.
Quality producers also emphasise the importance of using all Garganega grapes, even though Soave can contain up to 30 per cent Trebbiano di Soave. Soave Superiore has slightly different rules but must still be at least 70 per cent Garganega. Under new leadership since 2022, the Consorzio has finally moved more decisively on such issues, banning the use of the Trebbiano Toscano grape as well as banning new plantings, reducing the area declared under the Soave DOC and increasing checks to make sure producers are abiding by the rules. But even today, this remains one of Italy’s most productive white wine areas, making around 55 million bottles a year.
This white isn’t, however, the whole story of the wines offered by local producers. In the west of the zone, Soave overlaps with Valpolicella: many producers own plots there and make both wines. Others have planted to the southeast in the Colli Berici DO: Inama has made an unlikely specialty there of reds made from Carmenère. And then there is Recioto di Soave, the area’s unique sweet white wine, made from grapes dried out for several months after harvest, traditionally on straw mats. It is very sweet – usually over 100 grammes of residual sugar per litre – but can be a serious wine, rich, complex and with a firm underpinning of acidity.
Will the authorities’ plans to improve quality change Soave’s image? I hope so. But for the family businesses already making quality wine, I doubt much will change. Letizia Gini’s family have been in the business since 1570. After studying oenology, she worked in Piemonte, Tuscany and New Zealand before coming home to join her brother, sister and two cousins running the business – though her father is still agronomist and her uncle cellar master, all making wine together.
Such wines are a good example of why Soave is worth another look: bright, savoury and refreshing on a summer’s evening but sometimes much more serious than that too. And the chaos of rules and patchwork of appellations? It’s all part of Italy’s chaotic beauty, what Giulia Franchetto says “makes Italy what it is”.
Seven Soaves to try
Gianni Tessari Soave 2025 – a deeper colour and with more depth and weight than most, this boasts bright fruit and attractive minerality. Good value (the 2023/2024 are at Wine Tasting Adventure, Solent Cellar, Jeroboams, from £15.49.)
Franchetto “La Capellina” Soave 2024 – a wet vintage, which locals say makes wines with slightly more tropical aromas, like this one. Quite sweet, pure fruit with firm acidity and some length (Wine and Earth, £15.50.)
Mainente “Netrroir” Soave 2023 – this is a nice example of one technique used locally to make slightly bigger wines, by using a proportion of dried grapes. Thirty per cent of the grapes in this had been first dried for month; it then matured in large, used oak barrels. A deeper gold colour, with sweeter fruit and more depth – but still well balanced and long. Good value, considering that just 4,000 bottles of this were made (the 2022 is at Crushed and Cured, £22.)
Gini “Contrada Salvarenza” Soave Classico 2022 – all of Gini’s wines age impressively, but above all this, their top cuvée. The grapes come from a four-hectare plot of 130-year-old, pre-phylloxera vines in the middle of the La Froscà UGA, the only ones left in Soave. This already has amazing depth and harmoniousness – fresh and mineral but complex and long, indeed probably the single most impressive wine I tasted in Soave. Meanwhile the 2014 vintage is simply astonishing, almost immortal in its youthfulness (Call Me Wine, £27. Other recent vintages available elsewhere, and in bond from Justerini & Brooks.)
Pieropan “La Rocca” Soave Classico 2024 – Pieropan is probably Soave’s most illustrious producer and this is their top cuvée, from a single, five-hectare vineyard just outside Soave town. A very slightly green tint to it, with trademark notes of almond on the nose; beautiful precision in its balance of acidity and nutty, complex layers, with just a lick of oak from half of it spending time in French and Slavonian tonneaux (Paul Adams Fine Wines, Brunswick Fine Wines, Reserve Wines, from £36.99, and elsewhere in bond.)
Inama “Vigneti di Foscarino” Soave Classico 2023 – Inama’s top cuvées from its crus are very serious Soave. This is a little honeyed, with sweet fruit balanced by stony acidity, a very subtle oak influence – and those almond notes. The amazing “I Palchi” cuvée from the same cru, made in very small quantities from selected grapes, is more concentrated and complex – and pricier (Waitrose Cellar, XtraWine, £25. The 2021 is in Uncorked and elsewhere.)
Vicentini Recioto di Soave 2023 – a lovely example of the Recioto sweet style: made in tiny quantities (1,000 bottles) and only in the best vintages, from a selection of 100 per cent Garganega grapes, made only in stainless steel. This has a beautiful, deep golden colour and rich, layered sweetness beautifully balanced with fresh acidity (Cambridge Wine Merchants, Bat and Bottle, from £29.95/50cl.)
What I’ve been drinking this week
Herència Altés “Benufet” 2025, Terra Alta – this white based on Garnacha Blanca comes from a sustainably minded producer in Terra Alta, a promising highland area in the south of Catalonia. Fresh, crisp, citrusy with herbal notes. I drank this by the glass at the delightful Vine wine bar in Bermondsey (the 2024 is at Brunswick Fine Wines, Vinum, £17.95.)
Akrathos Assyrtiko 2021, PGI Halkidiki – Babis Bekris makes some of the best Greek mainland Assyrtikos I’ve tasted. Assyrtikos made up here in the north of Greece tend to be less steely and more generous than those from the grape’s home on the island of Santorini, and this is a lovely example. Assyrtiko’s crisp citrus and mineral characteristics are there but with an attractive creamy texture too, both pure and long (Hic!, NY Wines, from £26.50.)
Château Croix Canon 2014, St-Emilion Grand Cru – I honestly can’t remember where this bottle cam from, as it’s been in my cellar a long while, but I decided on a rare whim that the lamb I was cooking called for Bordeaux. Fully mature, this is smooth, lots of chocolate and mocha notes but appealing freshness too (the 2014 doesn’t appear to be available in the UK but more recent vintages quite widely available, from £40.)
Transparency declaration: I visited all the Soave wineries mentioned above as their guest. The Akrathos was a free sample.