Soave Classico, More Famous Than Understood

The Pra was fresh with a tart nose and straw color. It had a creamy citrusy flavor that was not crisp. It was served with a lobster risotto that made it less tart. It was not a good match as there was no balance if flavors. The Pieropan had a focused layered nose. The texture was lighter and had a smooth follow through. It showed crisp citrus flavors. When served with grilled sea scallops, it showed a great match. Both complemented each other. The Suavia showed a middle texture of the first two wines. It was a harmonious blend of tropical fruit and honey. It also showed a steely minerality and spot on acidity. It was served with Carbonara pasta that matched perfectly with the wine and was our favorite wine and wine and food combination. It was a close call with the Pieropan. George Erdle – Harper’s Fine Dining, Charlotte, NC

Tried my first-ever Suavia Thursday night. In weight, as did the Pieropan, it came in a bit heavier than the Prà. In texture, it felt like both the Prà and the Pieropan: watery sleek and minerally strong when cold (love that!), a bit raspier and more vibrant as it warms (still not bad). In flavor, the S tasted a bit more like the grapefruity Prà, with an added note of pineapple, especially as it warms (reminded me of an adult take on the little cans of pineapple grapefruit juice I loved as a kid). Crazily, at room temp, rich ripe golden apple takes over. Paired it with a trout almandine tinyurl.com/y5ll8m5n , which went beautifully once you gave it a bit of lemon. Without, the wine’s pineapple grapefruit seemed aimless and lost. The lemon squeeze brought out a rich, candied tart sweet lemon in the wine, especially cold. It tasted like a calmer, more refined, dialed down and unoaked Sonoma chardonnay. Love that, too! Added parsley had an odd effect. The contrast with the buttery toasted almonds made them more prominent and the Suavia pairing suddenly became wildly complex. Couldn’t tell if I loved it or not. An asparagus side was only ok. Weights worked, but the pineapple flavor was off.

After the bruhaha from the Burgundy lesson I wonder if these wines were selected because they are relatively inexpensive and readily available. In any event I was easily able to find all three recommended wines in Pennsylvania state wine stores. Over the last decade or so I have begun to really enjoy Italian white wines. Have my tastes changed or have the wines gotten better? It’s hard to tell, but now I find Italian whites to be great values in simple and refreshing summer wines. I have had several Soave Classicos, but the Pierpan and Suavia were new to me. First my wife and I tried the Pieropan Soave Classico 2017. When cold I found this wine pretty disagreeable. It had a very sharp taste acid taste without much else. As it warmed up if got better but I never really liked it. Lots of citrus taste. Lemons? My wife did not like the Pierpan either. She and unpleasant found the aftertaste sharp and unpleasant. We drank the wine with the recommended carbonara sauce. Sorry Eric, we didn’t like this combination at all. Maybe it was my carbonara preparation, maybe the wine. Either way it was not fun. Next we moved onto the Pra. We liked this bottle much more. The citrus was still present but much subdued. A pleasant wine. Nice on its own or with the fruits and cheese we had for dinner. Certainly nothing thought provoking, but fine for a simple meal on a warm evening. Given the price I think I will be coming back for more this summer.

We also enjoyed the Suavia Soave Classico 2017 with the Mrs. Fabricant’s english pea and clam fettucine. First we thought of it as similar to the Pieropan but we learned to like it distinctively: I got white flowers, grapefruit-y citrus and a similar stone licking minerality. Then the Pra Otto what, a contrast, brought us back to the apple-peach-stone-fruit orchard (no citrus for us to detect). Then it was watery-creamy-mineral-y with herbal notes of lemongrass, dill, and tarragon (perhaps also basil?). A dessert of fresh cherries failed here making the wine unpleasantly bitter. It did turn towards grapefruit after all. Googling for new ideas for Soave classico pairings I saw several mentions of pasta with sage butter. I served Mark Bittmann’s Pasta With Butter, Sage And Parmesan (Sage leaves freshly harvested) with another bottle of 2017 Ca’ Rugate. I didn’t skimp on Parmegiano-Reggiano and freshly ground black pepper. The nutty cheese creaminess of the dish was impressive. The wine again seamed creamy too, with beautiful notes of peach and almonds and a faint grassy dill herbal note. Now I just read on the producers website that the family produced cherries, plums, peaches and almonds but not a great deal of grapes on the Rugate land in the 1930s. Are we tasting the ghosts of a stone-fruit orchard growing on volcanic soil in this wine? This is just beautiful.

I rummaged the shelves of my local merchant, scoring two vintages of the Pieropan: 2016 and 2017. The winery generally uses about 85 percent Garganega in its Soave Classico, fleshing out the blend with Trebbiano di Soave (Verdicchio bianco), whose friendly aromatics add warmth to Garganega’s cool countenance. According to Pieropan’s technical sheet, the fruit is estate-grown in the volcanic soils of their hillside vineyards, hand-picked, de-stemmed, pressed, and vinified in vitreous cement tanks, where the wine rests on lees for four months to build volume. They’ve been making this cuvée since the early 1900s. I chilled both vintages to taste them as a (short!) vertical. The extra year of bottle age had exerted little influence on the 2016, and I found them difficult to tell apart blind. Both felt fresh if a bit soft; “silken” is perhaps the polite word for the effect, but they fell just shy of the nervy bite I seek in Soave. Still, the fragrant lift of vanilla and spring petals posed a lovely entrée, and they finished with a clean, almond bitterness that snapped at the back palate. As others have noted here, Soave is a genial partner for light-fleshed fish and meats, milky cheeses, and herb-flecked cuisine. My garden is currently popping with spring produce, and this wine poses a seamless complement to tender raw and blanched vegetables: peas, baby kale, spinach — even asparagus. Don’t serve this wine too cold. You don’t want to mute its fey floral charms.

This is a new white for me. I found the Pra at a local wine shop; they also had a second Soave Classico at $13 made with organic grapes so I thought I’d give that a try too. The non-recommended bottle was flat and uninspired. Sharp and bitter with no balance. Tasted precisely like something you’d get off the “$15 and under” shelf, which is exactly where I found it. I was off to a bad start. The Pra, however, really turned things around. In ways it reminds me of a great dry German riesling. . . . And by “ways” really I just mean one way which is the explosive acidity. Balanced with fruit notes that made me think of those canned mandarin oranges you got for lunch as a kid (if you were lucky) and dried apricots (literarily, like the package I’m currently imagining on the shelf at Trader Joe’s). I’ll definitely be trying it again and perhaps trying to push it on my mom--a Chardonnay loyalist. However, my experience with the first, non-recommended bottle leaves me a bit puzzled. The Pra was still under $20 but much more complex. If not recommended by Asimov himself, and not price driven, how can I separate the wheat from the chaff when shopping at my local store? I suppose my conundrum is the Achilles heel of many producers of Soave and other historically maligned varietals.

The Pieropan Soave “Calvarino” is produced from a hillside holding of relatively low yielding old vine Garganega and Trebbiano. It’s extraordinary Soave and well worth seeking out.

Though not labeled as Soave, I would highly recommend the wines of Roberto Anselmi.

I think a good Soave Classico is one of the most underrated Italian white wines. A well-made one is the embodiment of everything I love about Italian whites: clean minerality, singing acidity, and lees-y goodness. Sometimes I feel like it gets pigeonholed like Pinot Grigio does as well - a neutral, boring, one-note white that as you said are drank too cold. In Italy, I feel like it is dismissed similarly. Every time we go to Vinitaly, we stay in Soave, a beautiful if overlooked town whose wines are served as the mediocre house white that is almost always left for those who 'know nothing about wine.' Wine aficionados from around the world flock to Verona and choose every other wine to drink but that which is (well) made in the territory. My first real epiphany with Soave was at Oceana a few years ago when I had the Calvarino from Pieropan. WHOA - this was a beautiful expression of the ancient volcanic basalt on which it grew. Fine, expressive, and complex. Tonight, I am drinking the Pra', a producer that I respect but whose Soave I have never had. I find that same soul here - an ancient, volcanic, saltiness with a medium body that reminds me a little of Gavi. Although it would go well with seafood, that's not what I want with this wine. I want fresh summer vegetables, risotto (!), white meat dishes, or maybe even rabbit. It's a beautiful compliment and a refreshing break from the weightier Valpolicella of the region, and I am definitely a fan.

We enjoyed the 2017 Pieropan Soave Classico 2017 with Florence Fabricant’s Buttered Tagliatelle with Clams and Peas (using fresh fettuccine instead of tagliatelle and fresh english peas). This wine was grapefruit-y citrusy, a hint of effervescence, some refreshing bitterness. It blended wonderfully with the springtime flavors of the fresh peas. The wine’s minerality and the dish’s brininess tasted almost like springtime with a fresh seabreeze. I was wondering if I am reminded of good albariño. There was an herbal element too (dill? lemongrass?). Then again squeaky clean citrus. I was tempted to try VSB’s dessert choice: Sweet California cherries and ripe gooey French Camembert. I loved both, especially the Camembert with it’s creamy bitterness. My wife liked the Cherries and didn’t care for the cheese.

We enjoyed the Ca ‘Rugate San Michele Soave Classico 2017 with Ian Fisher’s Spaghetti Carbonara https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12965-spaghetti-carbonara . We used thick cut bacon and fresh spaghetti cooked for 2 min in this recipe and I think I improved it by using more of everything but the pasta. I garnished each serving with a good amount of grated pecorino and freshly ground pepper. This time I got everything right: Ratio and timing. The wine was chilled to the upper 50s and was peachy, creamy and spicy. We debated later if that peach could be an apple but here we did’t get the often mentioned citrus. The wine was in love with the many aromatics of freshly ground pepper and it’s stoney minerality corresponded well to the rich creaminess of this dish.

My favorite Bolla wine commercials featured Franco Bolla. "Sono Franco Bolla" almost sounds like "I am Postage Stamp." Soave doesn't have negative associations for me; I think of the musical term meaning "gently". Yes you can sense the acid, a slight spark on the tongue and then stronger at the back of the throat. The texture is there, crisp but not harsh. We had local asparagus and hake from Cape Ann both with butter. The acidity provided a counterpoint to the smoothness of the butter. We also had some leftover Via Carota's Insalata Verde from last Sunday's magazine. The garlic in the salad was a bit much for the wine but it wasn't a bad pairing. We got a homework package of all 3 wines from Flatiron. The Pieropan had a bit of an aftertaste; it made you pay attention. My husband thought it was more relaxed. The Monte Carbonare was my favorite and the squat bottle fits well in the refrigerator and wine rack.

Thursday night we met with a new, ’17 vintage of our old good friend, the Pieropan—a go-to favorite, as mentioned, with grilled fennel-garlic chicken legs. Like fiano and white Burg, the P transforms with serving temperature. Cold, it shows a distinctive dual texture, both vibrant and sleek, almost syrupy (but not heavy). It has a smooth, piercing quality that reminds me, like the Prà, of an unherby vermentino. Its flavors feel focused, with a notable, and nicely balanced, sweetness. Warm, the wine turns fuzzy, for better and worse. In texture, the contrasting vibrancy and syrupiness average out to a gentle background rasp. The flavors also become less distinct and, surprisingly, less sweet, not more. Warm, the wine is broader, softer, more accommodating. Also more generic, less special. In the interest of science, we ditched the Italian chicken for take-in Peruvian rotisserie thighs and legs tinyurl.com/y6clsl89 with a mildly spicy green sauce. I missed the Italian flavor connection, but in weight and juicy acidity the P again worked beautifully, and also withstood the sauce’s heat. By itself, Barb and I both preferred the cold. I thought the broader warm wine paired better, though. To me the cold’s Italian / Peruvian flavor contrast felt jangly—exciting, maybe, but a little too. Kind of like op art tinyurl.com/y2yxq9ap . Late, after dinner, a tiny taste of almond butter opened up new nutty goodness in the wine. More research needed.

When I was at a restaurant in Verona in 2012, I was overwhelmed by the wine list and asked the waiter to pick a white wine and he picked Vicentini Agostino, Il Casale, a soave. My husband and I are white wine drinkers because of headaches and my husband, Dutch, is mostly a beer drinker. I thought this was a superb white wine. It had mouth feel unlike most whites that I found to be insipid. I stopped drinking Pinot Grigio long ago. Even my husband who normally didn't drink wine was suitably impressed. We took a picture of the bottle for future reference and that's what I found for this comment. I have never been able to find it in the US though ostensibly it is imported here. It spoiled me for all white wines afterwards even after living in South Africa, my other favorite source of white wine. I think I can find it though it will be a different vintage and not inexpensive, $23.

Ah, Soave. Just to learn to say it, so suave-A. Classico renewed my interest. Can’t wait to try these. Keep the white parade going all summer, but skip rose. Whites beat reds I think in the variety of flavors, weights, pairings from sipping to appetizer to main to dessert.

(Resend. Apologies if duplicated.) Watery, slatey-strong, lightly grapefruity-tart, and delicious, the Prà. A definite rebuy. It was unlike—cleaner, less flavorful, purer—what I knew of Soave (based almost entirely on the Pieropan; I’ve enjoyed about a dozen of those since Eric recommended it in 2012; of the small handful of other Soaves I’ve tried, none have measured up). Paired the Prà Saturday night with the suggested carbonara tinyurl.com/y6s8bg5v . It’s not the kind of pairing I’d think to look for, which would be richer, more complementary to the cheese and pancetta. Instead, it was a lean and stony opposite. Its trace of grapefruit bitterness sent you back eagerly to the rich food. Barb called it “like a summer wine, in a good way.” I kept thinking of a CellarTracker comment: “goes down like water,” which I think was meant as a compliment, and if so, well-deserved. Though water light, the wine had a sleek, stony feel that stood up effortlessly, and intriguingly, to our pasta. Reminded me that way of a vermentino (minus the medicinal herbiness). It also fit well, if less dramatically, with a lemony asparagus side tinyurl.com/y9s6ly5y , and seemed to pick up on the dish’s pine nuts—though honestly, I was too wrapped up in the carbonara pairing to pay close attention. Too good. (Speaking of which, those with a grill might try the Pieropan with tinyurl.com/yya78366 . There is no wine I’d rather pour with those legs.)

Good Evening: Soave may never recover from the poor reputation it gained in the 70s--a pity because even in the 80s one could find lightweight but enjoyable Soaves of good quality and very low prices. However, it proved a tough sell at the wine store where I worked; people had very negative prejudices against it. Looked forward to this month's lesson to see if/how Soave had developed since then. The Pra 2017 Soave Classico "Otto" stunned me. Served with a cheese plate (Camembert, Gruyere, Cheddar, and a local goat cheese), plus strawberries and cherries. Music: The Maureen Choi Quartet, "Theia." Color: brilliant pale yellow. Nose: lemon, melon, yeast (!), orange. Taste: the same, plus grassy, floral, fig, mineral. Good acidity, holding everything together; juicy, medium bodied, good finish. Sort of combines aspects of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc. Went OK with the cheddar and Gruyere, well with the goat cheese, and very well with the Camembert. Went well with the strawberries and best of all with the cherries. Probably just my personal taste, but white wine seems to make a good match with stone fruit. And the music made the entire evening fun. If Soave ever gains the reputation it seems to deserve, the prices might go up too much. Perhaps we should keep this our little secret.