In one of my recent posts I briefly discussed the idea of making a series of posts, preferrably posting one new part every four weeks, in which I pick out a new winery or wine region, which I have never tasted before, and today is the first of such posts. And I thought it was going to be rather easy, but I cannot, for the life of it, make a satisfying introduction to it. Well, I guess you could count this first bit as an introduction to this post, and also consider the whole post an official announcement. From this day forward, every four weeks there will be a new post on this website discussing a different winery and three (or more) of their products. Usually those products will be their wines, but they might also be something else that they produce, olive oil, spirits, juices. Whatever is liquid and fits the ideology of my website.
Now that the introduction is done, I can finally introduce what I am actually trying to talk about today. The wines I have bought are all somewhat similar, and actually do not, unlike I intended, represent the whole range of the winery. Blame it on my lack of research before ordering, but when I ordered my first bottles from the Pieropan winery, I didn’t know they produced much, if anything, besides their three most famous wines. Those being the Soave Classico, the Soave Classico ‚Calvarino‘ and the Soave Classico ‚La Rocca‘. In reality they also produce Amarone, Valpolicella Superiore, a sweet bottling, a sparkling wine and even a Soave in a Solera system. I completely missed all of them, because the shop I ordered them at only sold the three. Lesson learned, I’ll do better next time.
Soave and Pieropan
If you were to ask me why I bought these three specific bottles, or simply this specific winery, as the first for this format, I couldn’t really give you an answer. Pieropan just seemed like something I wanted to try for quite some time anyways, and I think when I was browsing my local online selection it was like an instinct kicking in at the sight of these three bottles with all the same vintage. All of these are from 2022, a hot vintage across all of europe, with close to no rain between the months of april and august in the Soave region itself.
I felt drawn into this style, I never had it before, and therefore also never had Pieropan before. And I often hear the claim that this specific winery is the single best producer of Soave Classico, and that the single vineyard wines apparently have immense potential and expression. Yet the other thing I always heard was that Soave Classico, and also the winery, were two very much „inoffensive“ things in the wine world. Inoffensive in the way, I imagine, that they can be liked by almost everybody. They don’t have super high acidity, they are usually fruity and they aren’t unforgiving when drinking them young. I think that is the right style to start a series, format, or what you want to call it, like this one. Something that is easy to describe, easy to understand and also not expensive. Because in all actuality, Pieropan is very affordable in europe, here in germany I managed to buy all three bottles for just under 60€. The Soave Classico being around 11€, the Calvarino closer to 20€ and the La Rocca less than 30€. A thing unheard of almost, less than 30€ for a wine that a crowd and winery itself considers to be „the best“ amongst a specific line or range, let alone it being a single vineyard production, is a thing that I have seen exactly never at a winery in, for example, the Piemont, or even at most wineries here in germany.
As for the region and the wines itself; the area around the so fittingly called city of „Soave“ (Wow what a fitting name! Who came up with it?) and the surrounding villages make most of the regions growing area, that being around 5400 hectares. The rules for the ‚DOC‘ (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) imply that, for a winemaker to put the name Soave on his bottle, the wine must be produced of at least 70% Garganega, the common grape of the area. The remaining 30% can only be one other grape, that one being the, yet again, fittingly named Trebbiano di Soave, which you might also know as Verdicchio in other parts of italy. Winemakers are not limited to a 70/30 blend for any wine, they are free to put whatever percentage they want into the bottle, as long as it is at least 70% of Garganega, yet it can certainly be 100% as well. As mentioned before the wines appear to many as being „crowd pleasers“, or inoffensive in taste, wines that you can bring to any party and people will be able to enjoy it. Well unless they specifcally hate Soave or just don’t drink white wine. Soave is a safe bet and probably rarely disappoints, which I can finally attest today, for I have not been disappointed myself.
My first Soave ever
As mentioned before, I never had Soave in my wine life, the idea of tasting Soave on large scale tastings or Prowein or the like never even crossed my mind. Except this isn’t entirely true. I had one producer that I don’t fully remember on Prowein this year. I tasted a Recioto and Soave Superiore, that is at least what I can make out from the pictures that I took back then. I didn’t note them as being particularly interesting, neither the Soave nor the sweet wine were, even though sweet wine is often times an easy treat for me if done well.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this wine. I was aware of the general sentiment that Soave can be a common crowd pleaser, but was also aware that Pieropan is amongst the best producers in the area and makes wines that are often noted as being very good and most of all different from the rest. On the other hand however I myself hold on to the idea of most italian white wines being rather uninteresting, boring or simply too similar. Pinot Grigio is one of the big plagues in the northern part of the country, and I have yet to find an enjoyable Lugana. Most of those wines are, like Soave is made out to be, crowd pleasers. I would probably say that I honestly expected this wine to stand out in a way, even though I never had, or at least don’t fully remember the taste profile of, any Soave.
I must admit that I was a bit disappointed at first. The wine (85% Garganega and 15% Trebbiano) had a super fruity nose, very tropical. I recall pineapple and melons, there was some peach and some citrus, it was all around very enjoyable, but there was just nothing to it beyond that. On the palate it was more of the same. The acidity wasn’t particularly strong, more so on the lower end of things, and the flavour profile was more fruits, more tropical, more peach and more citrus. The wine lacked depth but was still highly enjoyable, very easy to drink and very juicy. Upon first opening the bottle it also had some residual bubbles from fermentation, I like those, they tend to give structure to a wine that doesn’t have a lot of it. It changed on the next day, becoming less fruity on the palate, more bitter instead. It’s still super easy to drink.
To be fair I definitely overestimated what this wine should be. Keep in mind the price, less than 11€ was what I paid, specifically 10,71€, and for that I should not and simply can’t complain. Yes, I agree with the sentiment and idea of this being a crowd pleaser and inoffensive, and I also think that there is not a lot to it, yet I still think that for less than 11€ you can simply not fail with a wine like this. It delivers what the price implies. Thumbs up!
Calvarino
Calvarino is the name of the vineyard which this wine is grown on, not a particularly special one. It is located in the central area of the Classico region, mostly made up of Clay and Basalt stone in it’s terroir. The wine costs less than 20€, 19,35€ specifically, which is really not a lot of money for a single vineyard production, so for this one I didn’t expect it to perform brilliantly from the very start. The one thing that does make this site stand out is that it is around, maybe more than, 120 years old. I have no information about the age of the vines themselves however. The blend for this wine is the minimum that is required, a 70/30 blend, although I am unsure of how much this affects the wine.
On the nose this wine isn’t too dissimilar from the base model which I tasted before. It is fruity, mostly tropical with more pineapple and peach and citrus , enjoyable and likeable. There is some more depth and character to it aswell, with it showing a bit of a salty character. Not a mediterranean salinity like I found in the Assyrtiko I tasted two weeks prior, but a very subtle note. On the palate it is noticeably more acidic, showing a definite mineralic character, like stones and dust. It is still fruity but there is a lot more beyond that, a lot more depth and complexity. Really juicy and easy to drink again. I’ll bluntly say that I like this wine, a lot actually. I would buy it again because in my opinion this is still a crowd pleaser in a way where everybody can and will like it, yet it’s complex and characteristic enough to think about it. Another thumbs up!
La Rocca
Hey look, it’s the third wine! I overall expected this one to perform at least similar to the first two, but I was very positively surprised by this bottle. I can most certainly say that this was my absolute favorite of this tasting. Unlike the other two this wine isn’t a blend at all, it is actually 100% of Garganega, and I am unsure if that is the reason why it is different, or if it is just a differently made wine… Saying that it’s unique is the best way to describe it in my opinion. La Rocca is another single vineyard, the superior one of the two. It is located right in the center of the area on the Monte Rocchetta, and it is mostly made up of clay and limestone, which is actually only present on about 30 of the 5400 hectares in the Soave region.
Starting with the colour; it is unlike the two before, it is very dark, almost golden or bronze-like in it’s appearance. It’s a treat just to look at it. And then I smelled it for the first time, and was surprised and almost impressed. A wine style that has cemented itself as fruity and light from just the first two bottles suddenly got an expression that was deep, complex, sophisticated and almost heavy. The nose is initially very reductive, a note that often fades with oxygen. After that it becomes vanilla and oak, sulphur and some more mineralic tones, stoney aromas, sand and gravel, some herbs and some spices, and the same salinity as previously. It is an absolute treat to smell, the aromas themselves have such an individualistic and unusual character for what I know from most italian white wines, it is almost stupid how much fun I have smelling it. The palate is a perfect continuation, more sulphur and stones, the acidity is high on this one, and it is super juicy. Mineralic, terroir driven, overall very exciting. A wine that I want to drink again very soon, one of the very few italian white wines that I have loved from just one bottle. I honestly want to say that I did not expect the last one to be this unique and almost outstanding after the first two were rather similar, but this one proves that it’s correct what people say about Pieropan, their wines are characteristic and expressive, while also being good for almost every crowd…
I am very positively surprised! I have liked all the wines for themselves but I have loved the last one, it is a massive step above the other two. This one is also a wine that I would, again unlike the other two, not necessarily serve to everyone, I imagine there are a number of casual drinkers that would not particularly enjoy this product the way that I do. Wow, what a surprise, what a wine!
Summary?
This post is way too long already, so I’ll keep it short. I liked all the wines, the third was a stand out, much different from the other two. All the wines were enjoyable, the first two were really best described with the word inoffensive. I enjoyed the process of this post, it is the longest I have done so far and I took the longest time for it. I had fun tasting the wines and writing about them, and hope to repeat this same theme in 4 weeks from now. I’ll also make a similar, but shorter, post in 2 weeks about some southern italian wines.
If you have read all this, you deserve a medal!
