As our summer season slowly approaches autumn, and family vacation season slowly winds down, my thoughts turn to a European vacation from years ago, when I enjoyed a wine touring trip to Italy, eating and drinking my way across the countryside with great gusto.
It was in the port city of Venice, famed for its intricate canal system, that I discovered the joys of Venetian wines, sipping them from small tumblers in sidewalk cafes at all hours of the day.
Venice is one of those places that looks almost too improbable to be real, built upon a collection of small islands in a shallow lagoon, with canals taking the place of streets through much of the historic city. Unfortunately, the combination of subsidence and rising sea levels has also made flooding a recurring problem, although an enormous system of movable barriers known as MOSE now helps protect the lagoon from the worst high tides.
Wine lovers venturing inland from Venice will find themselves in Veneto, one of Italy’s 20 wine regions and among the largest wine-producing regions in the country. While the mighty Pinot Grigio and Prosecco tend to grab most of the attention these days, one of Veneto’s most important native white grapes is Garganega. Yes, I know that Garganega sounds vaguely like the name of a villain plotting to invade the Smurf Village, but I can assure you the similarity ends there.
For those readers who have never noticed Garganega at their friendly neighbourhood booze merchant, there is a good reason. Like so many Italian wines, the name of the grape frequently takes a back seat to the name of the place where it was grown.
Garganega is the principal grape used to make Soave, a white wine produced around the picturesque medieval town of the same name, just east of the city of Verona, which literature buffs will remember as the hometown of Romeo & Juliet. Under Italian wine regulations, Soave must contain at least 70% Garganega, although many of the better examples are made almost entirely from the grape.
Left to their own devices, Garganega vines are vigorous and capable of producing enormous quantities of fruit, which historically gave the grape something of a reputation for producing cheap and cheerful wines without much complexity.
Fortunately, clever vineyard managers discovered that aggressively pruning the vines and limiting the crop forces the plant to concentrate its efforts on a smaller number of grapes, producing considerably more flavourful wines.
At the inexpensive end of the spectrum, young Soave is light and refreshing, with flavours of peach, pear and citrus, often accompanied by a slightly salty or almond-like finish. Better examples from lower-yielding hillside vineyards can be surprisingly complex, developing richer flavours of honey, herbs and ripe stone fruit as they age.
The Garganega grape also has another trick up its sleeve. Some of the finest grapes are used to make Recioto di Soave, a sweet dessert wine produced using the traditional appassimento method. Rather than crushing the grapes immediately after harvest, the winemakers dry them for several months, allowing much of the water to evaporate while concentrating the natural sugars, acidity and flavours.
Faithful readers may recall that this is the same basic trick used down the road in Valpolicella to produce the mighty Amarone, although in that case the concentrated grape juice is fermented almost completely dry.
Recioto di Soave retains plenty of residual sugar, producing a rich golden dessert wine with flavours of honey, dried apricot, citrus and almond. Production is tiny compared with ordinary Soave, so finding a bottle here in Alberta can require some determined hunting and perhaps a particularly accommodating wine merchant.
Garganega has been cultivated in northeastern Italy for centuries, and modern DNA analysis has revealed genetic relationships with several other Italian grape varieties. The same grape also appears in Sicily under the name Grecanico Dorato, another reminder of how hopelessly confusing Italian wine can become once you start digging beneath the label.
Soave enjoyed enormous popularity in North America during the 1960s and 1970s, when inexpensive Italian whites flooded the export market. Its throne was eventually usurped by Pinot Grigio, which became the default Italian white for millions of North American wine drinkers.
That is a bit of a shame, because good Garganega deserves another look. A young Soave makes an excellent alternative for anyone who normally reaches for Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. The crisp acidity and delicate fruit flavours pair particularly well with seafood, risotto, creamy pasta dishes and soft cheeses, while the better Soave Classico bottlings have enough complexity to be enjoyed all by themselves.
Best of all, you don't need to take a gondola through Venice to find one. There are usually several bottles of Soave lurking among the endless rows of Pinot Grigio at well-stocked Alberta wine shops, with plenty of affordable examples suitable for everyday drinking.
So the next time you visit your friendly neighbourhood booze merchant, gallop past the Pinot Grigio and give Garganega a try.