Winemaker Notes
Straw yellow with considerable intensity and brilliant highlights. This wine is creamy and elegant. It is characterized by freshness and aromas of citrus, herbs, and mineral. On the palate the wine is well-balanced and refreshing with a dry and persistent finish.
Best served with delicate fish-based dishes, truffle or mushroom risottos, and medium-flavored cheeses as well as a variety of vegetarian dishes.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Red volcanic ferrous soils with ample black basalt strewn amidst. Suits the later ripening Garganega, while screw cap promotes the freshness sought at this address. 6 ha. 60-70 year vines on a cooler site, rising to the creme of top quality sites as the climate warms. A richer wine than the younger Classico, but without the same sassy vitality. While the Classico is an unbeatable everyday wine, this is a complex wine demanding food and a little more contemplation. Mirabelle, apricot pith, a whiff of dried mango and plenty of smoky, pungent mineral grip, with dutiful freshness towing tenacious length.
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Wine Enthusiast
One of the most important crus of Soave, this Monte Carbonare boasts aromas of roast peach, warmed apples and drying flowers that will mesmerize. The palate is a revelation, yielding a wine that is rich, honeyed and mouthwatering with flavors of hazelnut, dried smoked apricots and an abundance of minerality. A complete wine that sits at the top of its class, it’s as good as they come.Winebow Imports.
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Decanter
Elegant and characterful Soave Classico, hailing from the prized Monte Carbonare ‘cru’, known for its distinct basalt soils. And this wine has a volcanic soul, with smoky nuances to the filigree lemon, apple and almond flavours. There's a pleasant width to the mid-palate. Enjoy with seafood risotto, truffle-based dishes or medium-hard cheeses. Great ageing potential.
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Wine Spectator
There's a broad feel to the well-meshed flavors of yellow apple, persimmon, pink grapefruit sorbet and blanched almond on display in this elegant white. At the same time, this bright version is trimmed nicely by well-cut acidity, with a crackle of sea saltlike salinity. Accents of tangerine zest, jasmine and warm spices play on the finish. Drink now through 2031. 3,500 cases made, 1,000 cases imported.
One of Italy’s classic white varieties, Garganega flourishes in the rolling vineyards surrounding the medieval village of Soave and is the dominant variety in the wine from the region, aptly known as, Soave. By law it makes up 70-100% of the blend with the remainder traditionally finished off by Trebbiano di Soave for its crispness. Somm Secret—The best Soave wines, measurably elegant and vibrant, come from the Soave Classico zone, in the center of Soave, where the hills are made of decomposed volcanic and granitic soils.
Among Italy’s classic whites capable of great potential, Soave is named after the medieval village and surrounding hillsides from whence it comes. The original, historical Soave zone, delimited back in 1927, covers the eastern, volcanic hillsides of today's general Soave zone and is called Soave Classico.
Garganega, the indigenous grape responsible for great Soave, produces medium bodied white wines with fine acidity. Typical in the best Soaves are lively flowery and fresh herbal aromas and flavors such as orange zest, peach, melon and marjoram. The best can take some age and in so doing, develop notes of chamomile, marmalade and honey.
By the 1960s and 70s, Soave was enjoying such a glorious global reputation, that its demand forced growers to push beyond the zone's original borders. Expansion led west out of the hills and onto the alluvial plain of the Adige River. This, coupled with an increase in yields and allowance of additional varieties such as Trebbiano, Chardonnay and Pinot blanc, met demand but created a softer, fruit-forward, everyday Soave. Today the broader region can be the source of charming and value driven whites. But those labeled as Soave Classico or in rare cases, as Soave Colli Scaligeri (nearby hillside vineyards abutting the Classico zone), will be the best quality and age-worthy Soaves. These are often 100% Garganega.