Soave wants to rewrite its identity card, to tell its story more clearly to the world

Soave, one of Italy’s most important white wines, aims to communicate its characteristics clearly and simply, but not simplified, to buyers and consumers. Not an easy path, considering also the 7,000 hectares of vineyards divided among 13 municipalities in the eastern Veronese area and the 40 million bottles produced on average each year, most of which end up abroad, Germany, Great Britain and Northern Europe in the lead, followed by Japan and the United States and Canada. But a fundamental path, also to ride the positive wave that has brought white wines into a position of pre-eminence over reds in consumer choices. However, a more targeted communication can only pass through a greater definition of the profile of Soave, which has become increasingly differentiated in the face of the identification of as many as 33 Uga (Additional Geographical Units) that have become part of an already very varied “organoleptic landscape” of wines determined by different business interpretations. Landscape, freshness and longevity, not necessarily in that order, will be the key words of this path, to which a talk was dedicated at “Appuntamento Soave”, an event organized by the Consorzio di Tutela del Soave, in collaboration with the Strada del Vino Soave, in recent days at the Circolo Ufficiali in Verona.
The path undertaken Consortium could appear as a reversal of the trend. “This is not what it is about”, Cristian Ridolfi, who is its president, clarified to Winenews in the talk led by the deputy director of “Corriere della Sera”, Luciano Ferraro, “because the Uga will be, in any case, a way of telling the story of the territory through the landscape and the strong differences between the soils, but all this comes through the interpretation of the producers who have a common denominator, the Garganega grape variety, which today accounts for 90% of the vineyards (for Soave, the use of Trebbiano di Soave and Chardonnay is also allowed). Today you can find Soave ranging from 10.5 to 14 degrees of alcohol, which have a floral profile with a fruity note or go beyond fruity with honeyed notes. This may be a way to approach consumers who have different tastes, proper to a corporate narrative, but the identity we want to present to a consumer who is increasingly interested in whites is that of a fragrant wine with a balanced fruity floral, not overly rich, but not trivial. A moderately alcoholic white wine with a savory aftertaste, pleasant, but not fatiguing on the palate. A profile, this one, that should appeal to most bottles. Today we struggle to talk to increasingly difficult consumers, and so we need to give a simpler and more authentic message of the territory, yet easily understood, rewriting the Soave identity card”.
To do this, having drawn as best as possible a concise and updated identikit of Soave, it will be necessary to align production with internal communication within the denomination, taking into account “what comes from the social base of producers” - as the president of the Consortium points out - but also relying on external analysis by experts such as Andrea Lonardi, Master of Wine. “The Soave system”, Lonardi stressed, “is divided between large-volume production, with a tired old commodity approach to Italian wine, and small volumes by a group of small and virtuous quality producers in a territory that has elements of great distinctiveness. In a market ready to receive certain novelties many are in the international context the opportunities for this denomination that never as in this moment has the will to seek a common line of development with a shared strategy between the two souls, cooperative world and private entrepreneurship”. Adding to this optimistic notation are numerous strengths of Soave that are concrete and independent of supply chain balances, primarily the orientation of consumption toward whites. “This appellation is much better suited than others to deal with the limitations that climate change is imposing on many areas of our country and beyond”, Lonardi pointed out, “thanks to the presence of water, the rusticity of Garganega, but also of Trebbiano di Soave, a contemporary form of farming such as the pergola, and moderate alcohol potential. A part of the appellation has great quality and terroir potential”, Lonardi continued, listing the appellation’s pluses. “Volcanic and calcareous soils”, he said further, “can offer a spectrum of wines with characteristics of minerality and savoriness that today are the basis of the contemporary style that sanctions the success of Chablis, Loire and Albarino Rias Baixas. The quality potential has improved compared to the past and this is demonstrated by a longevity that characterizes only the best territories in the world, the presence of a group of virtuous small-to-medium producers who for years have been enhancing the noblest parts of the appellation by seeking communication and distribution marked by quality and terroir elements, the esoteric elements of the territory, such as the volcano, and, finally, the landscape integrity of a good part of the appellation, which is uncontaminated by the architectural abuse and disorder that instead characterizes other wine territories in the Verona area”.
A landscape integrity such as to earn, in 2002, the recognition of the Soave Vineyard Hills among the Giahs (Globally Importance Heritage System) sites, Agricultural Heritage of World Importance established by the FAO, as a model of rural development that”, as Clelia Maria Puzzo, senior program specialist at the FAO, pointed out, “by preserving unique features of the landscape and traditional practices, thanks also to the Pergola Veronese, an iconic element of the area's landscape, has been able to innovate and adapt to current times, generating resources for local communities, 3. 000 families involved in the production chain”.
Soave has viticultural and oenological potential to express itself as a wine that is not only modern and contemporary in response to current market trends, but also unique because it is capable of expressing a kind of complex simplicity. “Wines made from Garganega grapes”, explained Maurizio Ugliano, professor at the University of Verona, “although with variations related to the characteristics of the terroir, are distinguished by a particular balance between the main aromatic components, which means that none of the chemical classes responsible for the wine's aroma plays a dominant role in the perceived aroma. Thus, an overall picture emerges in which Soave stands out as one of the orchestral wines par excellence, in which the melody of the whole is more important than the expression of the individual components. This melody changes over time, yet maintains its character as a complex whole, with excellent opportunities to develop stylistic interpretations related to the place of origin of the grapes”. If this is a further arrow to Soave’s bow, there are quite a few brakes on its “revaluation”, which in any case in its excellent peaks is positioned in price ranges that are on average high, but not satisfactory either for producers or in consideration of its quality.
Long is the list of difficulties to overcome lined up by Lonardi: “a distribution mainly linked to the modern channel and an average price on the Italian shelf of 2.70 euros per bottle (source: Nielsen); a territory with the same name, but uneven in its qualitative, stylistic potential and with highly diversified production costs that makes generational turnover increasingly difficult in the more impervious areas, but of greater qualitative interest; an area with a production potential above current market demand and that imposes choices and positioning as an old commodity as well as control systems for which it is fair to acknowledge that much is being done; a history characterized for a limited number of players and by an imbalance between the cooperative world and private entrepreneurship both in terms of image and vision of the appellation; an old consumer with elements of wine choice linked to excellent value for money, but far from choices related to the style of wine or place of production; a style that even among producers of greater qualitative importance remains highly variable and personal; which makes consumer recognition complicated; a lack of awareness of its great potential, which could improve with the arrival of a certain type of external players and with educational work of long-term comparison.” Opportunities to be seized and limitations to be overcome. How? “With a precise and clear break with the past”, concluded Lonardi, “by adopting a contemporary vision of what is happening in the world of wine together with a desire for change, breaking away from commodity wine and focusing on an identity product, a cultural asset, capable of giving hedonistic gratification to the consumer. The Soave appellation has all the elements to produce a new type of Soave capable of unlocking this hidden potential and conquering these new market opportunities”.
The affirmation of wine as a cultural asset-a means of defending it from the attacks of those who equate it with other alcoholic beverages that are often the protagonists of abuse-agreed with Bruno Fasani, prefect of the Verona Chapter Library, the oldest in the world with those of the Vatican and Paris. “Today the culture of wine”, he noted, “if, on the one hand, it has become a sure source of income and work for so many families, specularly it is also a source of culture, not only in the tasting and culinary sphere, but before that in that complex and fascinating plot that unites the globalization of taste with the peculiarity of local diversities. A meeting of peoples, united by the same pleasure”. Speaking of limits, from Lorenzo Pasquini, Directeur d'Exploitation of Château d’Yquem, came some useful words of inspiration for Recioto di Soave, a passito that in some cases reaches heights of excellence that nothing to envy to the very noble Sauternes, but that like the whole typology has been suffering greatly for years. “What creates a wine of excellence”, Pasquini stressed, “is certainly the fruit of a set of factors that converge in perfect harmony, including the unique and authentic stories that determine its identity. At Château d'Yquem we only respond to this criterion, even doing research to adapt to changes such as climate change. We are guardians of it and we are not chasing the market, but we have changed our approach to it. We want to make sure that everyone in life tastes Château d'Yquem at least once by creating more and more opportunities for this, for example by promoting service by the glass in restaurants and wine shops and facilitating visits to the winery”. A lesson that of Château d’Yquem, an icon, a symbol of history, elegance and refinement, which is particularly valid for the agonizing passito wines, but also for all other types.