Did you know that wines made in Veneto, Italy, account for 28 percent of Italian wine exports? I didn’t. But heck, I didn’t know that when I ordered local wine while visiting Piazza San Marcos in the late 1980’s that I was drinking Venetian wines.
This is a sampling of what I liked during a recent tasting event of the area:
Prosecco Selezione Raphael DAL BO Organic Extra Dry DOC
11% alcohol
Location of vineyards: Valdobbiadene (Veneto)
On both the nose and in the mouth I got a delightful mix of apple, lemon and pear, with the addition of jasmine on the nose. This is not something to waste in a glass with orange juice.
Prosecco Spumante Extra-Dry Andrea Biasiotto DOC
11.5% alcohol
Location of vineyards: Prosecco D.O.C. area
Can you say, “Sour green apple Jolly Rancher candy?” I sure could. Took me awhile to find other notes on the nose, but I finally did get juicy peach and concrete. In the mouth a nice mouth-coating viscosity increased the sweet flavors. Another wine not to be wasted in a cocktail but drunk on tis own.
Il Cattivo Amarone della Valpolicella DOC 2009
16% alcohol
Location of vineyards: Marano di Valpolicella (Verona)
This one screamed, “Butcher shop!” I got pork, beef, prosciutto…just exactly what you would find in a cold butcher shop. The only other note I detected on the nose was stewed plum. Once tasted I got dark smoky fruit and the whiff of a cigarette.
Amarone della Valpolicella “Carnera” Riserva DOC 2008
16% alcohol
Location of vineyards: Lavagno, D.O.C. area (Verona)
Okay, one more time, this one yelled, “Sour cherry!” Add to that a little bit of tree bark and that was the nose. Tasting this was very interesting: smooth dark fruit and cigar.
Amarone della Valpolicella DOC 2008
16% alcohol
Location of vineyards: San Pietro di Lavagno (Verona)
Okay, I won’t scream but I did feel that the nose of this last Amarone was like a Port wine. On both the nose and in the mouth I got chocolate covered raisins, with pleasant blue and black fruits.
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Note: Our tasting was presented by U.Vi.Ve. (Unione Vini Veneti). Speakers included: Arturo Stocchetti, President of Consorzio Unione Vini Veneti DOC; Alessandro Torcoli, Publisher of Civiltà del Bere; and Piero Selvaggio, Owner Valentino Restaurants.
Participating wineries in the day-long event included: Bennati, Biasiotto, Cantina Alice bel Colle, Cantina di Cormons, Cantine Monfort, Cesconi, Domenico Fraccaroli, Le Albare, Orion Wines, Poggio Torselli, Pojer & Sandri, Produttori delle Langhe, Riveri Wine International, Ricci Curbastro and selected wineries from winegrowing associations of the Friuli-Grave, Friuli-Collio, Chamber of Commerce of Udine, U.Vi.Ve – Unione Vini Veneti, Consortium Wines of Romagna and Confcooperative Umbria.
