Wine: Suavia: Soave Recioto di Soave “Acinatium” DOCG

Veneto

The Veneto is a region with enormous potential and ranks from year to year in the top 3 of Italy’s largest producers, along with Sicily and Apulia. And while the potential for high quality wines exist, much of the region has been driven by cooperatives that have developed large export markets. Yet it is hard to generalize the region as there are many small, proud producers making world-class wines from native varieties. In the hills and provinces surrounding Verona, there are 2 very important movements. Soave is the most popular of Italian whites and has just earned the DOCG status. Yet, controversy exists as many artisan producers feel the rules governing the DOCG do not go far enough insuring the quality standards that Soave can aspire too. As a result, some growers have opted to retain the DOC as they feel the DOCG is not strong enough to protect the integrity of what Soave can and should be in regards to excellence. Much like Soave, the red wines from Valpolicella have long been associated with major cooperatives producing bulk wines. But here too one finds small, family producers focused on quality. And like the debate found within the Soave DOCG, many top producers feel the DOC for Valpolicella and Amarone do not go far enough to insure first-rate wines. While the debate regarding the rules for each category continues, the strides made by various, independent producers demonstrates the merit for elevating the standards for each zone. For several more dollars, one can experience a far superior wine, which in turn makes it hard to understand spending money for the lesser wines produced by the coops. Just as Amarone and Soave are traditional wines made with native varieties, Prosecco is a lightly sparkling wine produced with indigenous grapes from the hills north of Venice. It is a wine usually made in the Charmat method, the best examples hail from the vineyards around Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. Prosecco is growing in popularity in North America and makes a wonderful aperitif or wine for enjoying with a group of friends—no special occasion needed!

Suavia

Winemaking is a family affair for Giovanni and Rosetta Tessari and their four young daughters; and the Soave soil is part of the family. Even the winery name is Soave’s ancient denomination, Suavia, rather than Tessari!
It is hard for most of us global villagers today to imagine a world with roots: real villages where people stayed all their lives through many generations. Yet these four pretty girls – Arianna, Meri, Valentina (the present winemaker), Alessandra – speak of their vineyards as they speak of grandfather Giuseppe and Nonna Serafina, who taught them to care for every vine, every plot and every grape on the property from earliest childhood.
Giuseppe built the Tessari home in 1887, high on the Fittà hills that overlook the Classico heartland, facing the hills of Soave and Monteforte d’Alpone. He cultivated the family’s first vineyards with his own hands and poured his fine fruit into the local cantina sociale, keeping to himself only sufficient grapes for a few barrels of Recioto. Then in 1982, a century after it all began, his son Giovanni and wife Rosetta took a brave step, choosing at last to estate-bottle their wine, constructing a brand new, state-of-the-art winery and calling themselves Suavia “as a tribute to the tradition and culture of their terroir”.
In the course of these 23 years, the depth, breeding and consistent excellence of the range have consecrated Suavia as one of the appellation’s benchmark wineries. The Tessari family’s secret recipe?
1. Their unique empathy with the Soave Classico terroir.
2. Very old, select rootstock – a great number of the vines are over 50 years old!
3. The richness and complexity of Suavia’s volcanic soil, endowing the wines with minerally, flinty notes.
4. Ideal, hillside microclimate, altitude (300 meters a.s.l.) and exposure, with sunny days and cool nights – hence, the wines’ layered aromas and characterful nuances of ripe, exotic fruit.

The name comes from the Latin term for “berries”, and was used for Recioto produced around Verona in the sixth century! Even then, the paramount secret to this nectar of a wine was in the… berry itself: ripe fruit lengthily withered to achieve unbelievable concentration and sugar levels. Only the finest Garganega grapes on the Suavia estate, picked in mid-September, are painstakingly placed to desiccate on trays until late February/early March. Noble rot – Botrytis cinerea – ensues, adding further dimension and aromatic complexity to the fruit, which is finally soft-pressed, barrique-fermented and barrique-aged for about 16 months sur lie, with repeated bâtonnages. After some 3 months’ bottle age, the result is a deep golden wine fragrant with honey and spice notes that continue on the silky, structured palate and persist in a superb, elegant finish.
Its delicate sweetness is finely balanced by subtle acidity, making this the ideal dessert wine and “vino da meditazione”.
Cellar life is 8-10 years.

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