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VULCANIA SOAVE 2012 and more (3)
* Please read all the previous and next articles about VULCANIA SOAVE 2012, about the SOAVE and the COLLI EUGANEI regions *
SOAVE FIXTURES
6583 ha of vineyards spread over 13 municipalities.
2781 grape producers but only 116 wine producers! 249 bottling companies and 6 cooperatives.
The total grape production is decreasing since 2008 (72,673,400 kg against 59,327,500 kg in 2011) as well as the wine production: 507,964 hl in 2008 against 414,225 hl in 2011. In 2011 56,450,000 bottles were filled: 300,000 of Recioto di Soave, 150,000 of Soave Superiore DOCG, 13,500,000 of Soave Classico and not less than 42,500,000 bottles of Soave DOC and Colli Scaligeri.
Fixtures source: Consorzio Tutela Vini Soave
Market: in 2011, Europe is still the biggest market for Soave wines… besides the national Italian consumption (16%), the rest goes to Germany (30%), UK (24%) and different countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, France etc. (together good for 10%)… further on, 6% go to the USA and 14% to the rest of the world (including Japan and China).
NB: promoting the ‘volcanic’ origin of SOAVE wines should be reserved only to wines who are really on steep ‘volcanic’ grounds. However, the biggest amount of Soave wines seems to come from the low-lands, not from the volcanic hills. I wonder who is really going to profit of a marketing campaign over the volcanic origin of Soave wines… What do you think? Would it be the producers of 150,000 bottles of Soave Superiore DOCG or… the producers/bottlers of 56 million bottles of Soave DOC, Colli Scaligeri and Soave Classico?
LONG HISTORY, BAD IMAGE
Soave has a long wine history… The name Soave seems to come from the Suevians, an old German barbarian folk who invited themselves down to Italy together with the Longobards. What the direct link with the wines is, no one seems to have a clue. But we know that the local Soave wines were greatly appreciated many centuries ago. The big ‘success’ of Soave wines came more recently, when the bigger wineries from the Verona region started to promote Soave on the Italian and export markets, in the beginning of the 20th century. Soave wine became the classic Italian white wine and was soon the most exported Italian white wine. Despite what some people still seem to think in the Soave region, the image of the Soave wines in many countries is not exactly a ‘noble’ one. Soave still suffers from its image of ‘cheap, easy drinking wimpy wine’. I feel really sad about that when I think of the great Soave wines I tasted in the short time I was there, but if you look again at the quality pyramid of the Soave wines, you will understand why we don’t have so much chance to taste the REAL potential of the GREAT Soave wines… Most of the Soave wine is sold in the supermarket for low to even incredibly low price. In the Netherlands, the average consumer price of a bottle of white Italian wine is about 3 Euro! The ‘Best wine supermarket’ in the Netherlands, PLUS, offers the VILLA MONDI Soave for 2.99 Euro… The JUMBO supermarket, another good ‘wine’ supermarket, sells its VOLUPTA VERO Soave also for less than 3 Euro. Our biggest supermarket doesn’t even have a Soave… There is still a lot of work to do!
1 bottle for less than 3 Euro, 2 (TWO!) bottles of Soave and/or Bardolino for less than 5 Euro
Let’s have a look at the quality pyramid of the Soave:
SOAVE DOC: basic wine, easy drinking, friendly, light, fresh, floral and fruity. Good value for money (at least, the good ones, but those are never ‘dirt cheap’).
a GOOD SOAVE is never ‘dirt cheap’
SOAVE CLASSICO DOC: restricted production from the hills of the Soave and Monteforte municipalities. More complexity, more structure, more ageing potential, floral, fruity and slightly mineral. Can be also aged in oak barrels and give more creamy and round structure. , Very good value for money.
SOAVE SPUMANTE DOC: nice bubbling; elegant, fruity and floral nose. Elegant, fresh, aromatic, easy drinking, quite enjoyable. Good value for money.
SOAVE SUPERIORE DOCG: restricted production, only from the hill-sides of the Classico region. Kept one year before release with at least 3 months of bottle ageing. Very fresh, fruity, floral, mineral, tense, quite complex, very good ageing potential (surely >5 years in great vintages). Outstanding value for money.
RECIOTO DI SOAVE DOCG: the first ever Venetian DOCG… made from the ‘ears’ (upper part of the grape bunches) of the garganega grapes, very rich in sugar and aromas. The grapes undergo the ‘appassimiento’ process (withering on racks) for several months to obtain semi-dried grapes. After the pressing, the most ferments very slowly, giving a real ‘meditation wine’, fully aromatic (acacia honey, blossoms, flowers, almonds, raisins…), full bodied but never heavy, with a great balance between sweetness and freshness and a lovely velvety structure. Outstanding value for money.
NB: there is also a sparkling (charmat?) version of this Recioto di Soave… the ones we tasted were very nice and may be more refreshing (a combination of lower serving temperature and bubbles) so that they could be used as refreshing dessert wine for cakes and biscuits… But honestly, it brings more fun than real added value to me.
Garganega grapes – © Consorzio
All the Soave wines are made from GARGANEGA grapes, sporadically completed with TREBBIANO DI SOAVE (giving more lively and tangy freshness, very important for the future, if the temperatures continue to increase dramatically like in the past decades). The training system was traditionally the aerial PERGOLA VERONESE but it has been more and more replaced by the GUYOT training on wires. However, experience seems to prove that the guyot wire training is better for the trebbiano di Soave, while the revisited pergola Veronese system (partially released, with a hole in the middle) is the best for the garganega.
Pergola Veronese with a hole in the middle – © Consorzio
* Please read all the previous and next articles about VULCANIA SOAVE 2012, about the SOAVE and the COLLI EUGANEI regions *
