Introduction
Here are the best Veronese wines that the Chamber of Commerce selects for you. Wine is a product that comes from the nature of our land, a liquid countryside. The fourteen DOC wines and five DOCG wines of the Scaligero wine come from the morainic hills overlooking Lake Garda and the foothills that extend from the lake to the east of Verona. The valuable crops of the hilly area of the land of Romeo and Juliet are these.
A millenary tradition that has become an economic record: the Veronese wine is known all over the world. Verona is the first wine exporting province with a 12% share of the Italian total and in 2017 we achieved sales abroad of 970 million euros, 5% more than the previous year. Of note is the appreciation of the Chinese market, China has become the 12th trading partner of our province. Growth also continues in the United States and in European countries where the Chamber of Commerce has directly promoted the wines selected by winemakers, journalists and from this year also local restaurateurs.
This guide, written in four languages, condenses the undisputed and recognized quality of our wine, which is inextricably linked to the promotion of the territory. The Chamber of Commerce therefore participates in the network of the Great Wine Capitals, the ten major areas dedicated to wine tourism. This year, on the occasion of the Mid Term Meeting, the usual mid-year meeting of the network, the Chamber of Commerce is organizing the Verona Wine Days: three days dedicated to the promotion of Verona's cellars and tourism with an international flavor. Delegates from the ten wine areas participate, as well as international and national journalists and bloggers.
This guide will travel the world, the hope is that it will induce those who read it not only to taste our wines, but also to visit our territory.
Giuseppe Riello, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Verona
Presentation
Feeling at home with Veronika Crecelius
The reason why I take every useful opportunity to return to Verona is because I feel at home here, perfectly at ease. Not only for the indisputable beauty of the landscapes, the grace and charm of the town itself; but even more because of a sort of natural consensus with the inhabitants of the Veronese area, almost a form of complicity that I strongly perceive, despite the fact that I am a foreigner. At the foundation of this empathy, there is wine. It is the wine that feeds our gemeinsinn, as a philosopher from my area - a certain Immanuel Kant - would have called this “feeling that we have in common”, the Veronese and myself. Wine is part of our life, it animates the salient points, its importance has an identity importance. I have never met people in the Verona area who have no connection with the world of wine; even the abstemious owner of the house I rented during the recent Vinitaly could speak with pride about Amarone and Soave, and would go out in the evening all dressed up to participate in the events of "Vinitaly and the City".
My relationship with the wines of the Province of Verona is based on almost 15 years of visits to vineyards and companies, speeches and laughter with winemakers and bottlers, exchanges of views with the different souls of the denominations, with the consortia and the social wineries. In my articles for the Weinwirtschaft and other magazines I have explored far and wide through writing your wonderful vine-oenological repertoire, and the relationship has deepened and consolidated over the years thanks to the opportunity to taste Veronese wines during fairs, primarily Prowein, to tell the German public about them.
Of course my nationality also plays an important role in this relationship. Germany imports more Veronese wine than any other country in the world and this from ancient times, when imports were still limited. The Germans, for example, drink more than 40% of the entire Lugana production, and not only during their holidays on the shores of Lake Garda. Even when I walk along the streets of Verona, or find myself having breakfast in a hotel in Soave, I am often reached by the echo of my mother tongue. And every time this happens, I feel a bit torn: proud to have such gourmand compatriots, but not without some embarrassment for the negative cliché that accompanies the "budget" choices of the average German. And yet also in this sense I believe that we have made a lot of progress: in the face of many Germans who are notoriously prudent and "pulled", today there are also many more aware consumers on the Italian market and willing to recognize the right price for the many bottles of wines. Veronese that deserve extra attention.
Verona Wine Top gave me a unique experience. Never in my life have I been able to immerse myself in such a complex, engaging and varied tasting of all the denominations of the province of Verona. Never in my life have I had 156 wines under my nose, all of which already presented themselves as winners. With this impressive figure, the 2018 edition of the Verona Wine Top competition not only set a record, but also demonstrated the growth in average quality in all the denominations of the Province. They are wines that are extremely different in character and in any case profoundly complementary and well blended as a whole.
Soave, which has just presented not only the 33 geographical units but also - the first Italian denomination - its GIAHS-FAO candidacy, has proposed winners who truly embody the profound differences between winemaking realities: from the small purist and cool producer , which works its basaltic soils by hand, up to the cooperatives with shrewd technological know-how, which know how to respond effectively to the demands of the market without distorting the identity of the typology. Custoza, with its often citrus-like freshness, which seems to come out of the shadows and redeem a more adequate notoriety. The savory Lugana, which in addition to a thriving market has many expressive resources and is increasingly freeing itself from those somewhat pimping sugary residues that sometimes penalized its reputation. Valdadige with its crisp whites and faithful to the typicality of the vines. The exploit of the Chiaretto family, which releases new energy to the Bardolino area. The balsamic Bordeaux wines of Arcole and the rare Merlara DOC are intriguing; but in terms of bubbles, Durello deserves a special stage, which among the winners of Verona Wine Top has lined up an international champion, a kind of Hans Peter Briegel of the Classic Method. For the bubbles of this unique vine, which for centuries has found its ideal habitat on the volcanic slopes of the Lessini Mountains, a far-sighted choice has recently been ratified: the DOC now distinguishes between Durello vinified with the Martinotti method (from now on: Lessini Durello) and the one vinified with the Classic Method (Monti Lessini).
Last but not least, Valpolicella puts all its weight on the scales in terms of quantity and quality, and offers engaging surprises among the Ripasso labels, also in the organic version, as among those of the Valpolicella Classico, with lots of grit and juiciness, for then show off all the aristocratic class of the old Amarone vintages. Obviously without ever forgetting the Recioto, whether they are light from Soave or dark from Valpolicella, because they close the great parade of Veronese wines with enveloping and generous delicacy.
And do you really ask me again why I feel at home in Verona?