Veneto Variety Show
The Veneto region is known for a few legendary wines, most notably perhaps are the sparkling Prosecco and the dark and brooding Amarone but in total this massive and diverse region has 28 DOCs or Denominazione di Origine Controllata and 14 DOCGs (generally more specific and often prestigious) Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita. The region itself though produces so many wines, and little known varieties that you could drink the wines of Veneto for the rest of your life and probably not drink the same wine twice.
In addition to those famed wines Veneto produces Soave, Lugana, Bardolino and on and on. White and red grapes that you've probably never heard of go into famous, and lesser known wines of all stripes. It is Italy's most prolific wine producing region, and here are just a couple producers, at fantastic value prices that you should look for. It's also a region of family owned operations that go back for generations, like these two houses, both alike in dignity...
Famiglia Pasqua
While Familia Pasqua is a large producer making a ton of different wines, their PassioneSentimento wines are a celebration of the winery's locale, Verona, as in "fair Verona where we lay our scene..." the wines aim to capture the spirit of Verona and the passion and poetry that wine can at times be evocative of and include some great graffiti labels from the courtyard of "Juliet's house." The grapes are a bit of an adventure for those who aren't well versed in Italian wines, but the resulting wines are exceptional values that an opportunity to find new everyday Italian favorites beyond Prosecco and Chianti.PassioneSentimento Veneto IGT Rosso $13
A blend of Merlot along with two of the grapes that make up the legendary Amarone, create a wine that remains fresh and vibrant yet concentrated in flavor. The Corvina and Croatina are part of the classic recipe used to make Amarone which includes drying the grapes in advance of pressing them, the ripasso process, concentrates sugars and flavors, but also because of its time consuming nature, and the fact that it takes much more dried grapes to make wine given their lack of juice, these wines, like Amarone which is made totally of dried grapes, often come with a pretty hefty price tag. This makes the PassioneSentimento, an easy choice to pick up at your local wine shop, even if the name is tough to pronounce.
The blend of these three grapes and the use of the ripasso method in result in a wine with a concentrated aromatic profile, notes of plum, raisin and cinnamon which introduce a flavor profile that remains a core of concentrated black fruit like dried fig and blackberry with a great fresh finish, and an approachability at a young age that makes this a great everyday drinker.
PassioneSentimento Veneto IGT Bianco $13
This wine is made from 100% Garanega and undergoes a limited ripasso as well. The style of winemaking in white grapes really concentrates the aromatics, almost crystalizing them. Aromas of candied ginger, lemon zest and late season stone fruit. The palate is ample in terms of body but fresh, pleasant with a long lasting finish.
Carpenè Malvolti
While everyone knows Prosecco, few probably know the grape is actually called glera, and that while sparkling wines are fairly new to the region, it may be one of Europe's oldest wine producing regions, even Pliny the Elder mentioned the wines of the region. In 1868 Antonio Carpenè was credited with attempting to create the region's first sparkling wines by introducing a secondary fermentation process to wines made from the glera grape for the first time. The Carpenè family also established the country's first oenological school in the town of Conegliano was also established by Antonio Carpenè.While the family's history is intertwined with the production of Prosecco, they're still making wines today.
From the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG this is a first rate prosecco with a typically floral and citrus aromatic profile. The palate offers up a creamy, viscous mouthfeel that is a bit more unctuous than your typical prosecco, flavors of ripe stone fruit, lemon zest and a zippy finish.
Made from Pinot Nero, or Pinot Noir, and just a dab of the native Raboso grape, this wine is particularly elegant with rounded ripe aromatics of rose water, and cut strawberry. The palate is lush and pleasant, ripe raspberry and strawberry flavors, along with tangy currant and a lively elegant finish.
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