WSET Lesson 1 Tasting 1

2007 Soave Classico, Rizzardi, DOC Veneto, Italy, 12.5%, £6.95
Colour: clear – medium ­– gold
Nose: clean – (medium) light – (thinners) elderflower
Palate: dry – medium acidity – no tannins – medium body – grapefruit, pear – medium length
Conclusion: good
Starting out gingerly we were congratulated on picking up quite so much character from one of the lightest of wines. Alun did comment that it actually had a bolder character than Soave often has. Its accessible price tag led to the unanimous conclusion of ‘good’ for what it was.
Understanding the label
2007 is the vintage, the year the grapes were harvested.
Soave is the wine style. It has to be made in Veneto, Italy. If you didn’t know this already the label tells you where it’s from clearly anyway. It is primarily made of the Garganega grape. EU law allows it to include other grapes, which ones continues to be more regulated.
Classico means the grapes are from a specific area of hillside above the Adige river. Rizzard is the producer.
This is an important element of reading Italian wine labels its mark of QWPSR (Quality Wine Produced in a Specified Region).
DOC — Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which this one is, there is also
DOCG — Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita.
Then it tells us which DOC it is from, Veneto. A bit more information on Veneto (http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a2008090526.html).
The country of origin: Italy.
Finally the ABV (Alcohol by Volume) in %.
Veneto was awarded DOC status in 1968. This meant wines from certain areas that exemplified the style of the region could use this denomination. The major grape variety used has to Garganega, other grape varieties are allowed to make up 30% of the wine. Trebianno di Soave (known as Ugni Blanc elsewhere), Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco could be added to the DOC. Trebianno di Toscano has become excluded from the DOC. It often makes up part of ordinary Soave, many of the grapes for this now are grown in the alluvial plain of the riverbed rather than the traditional hillside terraces. We tasted a Classico, this is a specific hillside region. There are other hillside regions to the east, which are ‘steely’ in taste as the soil is volcanic. The hillside regions to the west are limestone and warmer so give have more forward, upfront, ‘sunny’ flavours.
In 2002 DOCG status was awarded to certain areas. The rules became even stricter for the DOCG and led to a specific system of naming: From the Classico zone, Classico Superior; from Recioto di Soave, Soave Superior; from other regions Soave Colli Scalegeri Superior. Whilst holidaying in Rome a DOCG Soave pleasantly surprised me. I wasn’t expecting so much flavour having become used to the much thinner examples we are so often served in the UK.

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