Pieropan Soave Classico 2024

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

DENOMINATION: Soave Classico DOC.

1 company a co-operative controls 92% of Soave and 55% of Valpolicella production making an ocean of often boring wine. Look for Soave Classico on non-Cru wine, it tells you the fruit is from the better sites. You can see it at around 2min 40s in the geographic film below the orangey section. Most of the Cru sites sit within this the Soave Classico denomination.

GRAPE VARIETIES: Garganega: 85% Trebbiano di Soave: 15%

VINES AGE: from 6 to 60 years

SOIL: Limestone or vulcanic, from 100 to 300 mt a.s.l.

YIELD: 80-90 Hl per hectar.

TRAINING SYSTEM: guyot and pergola veronese BUDS PER SHOOT: 8 per vine

WINEMAKING: The grapes are destemmed and crushed in a protective environment. Free run juice is fermented at low temperatures (between 14-18°C) in glass-lined cement tanks and matured for 3/8 months on the fine lees.

About Pieropan

Leonildo (Nino) Pieropan showed the world just how great Garganega can be. Nino recognised the importance of terroir early on, expanding the family’s hillside vineyards and creating his single vineyard wines, Calvarino in 1971 and La Rocca in 1978. Today, sons Andrea (viticulturist) and Dario (winemaker), maintain the family’s profound commitment to the terroir and tradition of Soave and, more recently, Valpolicella. The single vineyard Soave wines, Calvarino and La Rocca, are polar opposites, yet they share a remarkable capacity to age gracefully. Calvarino, with 30% Trebbiano, is oak-free with pure fruit that is tight and minerally. La Rocca, from the vineyard that overlooks the town itself, is late harvested and aged in large cask, displaying ripe tropical fruit with an intense, layered palate that is velvety and persistent.

The video below offers an excellent profile of Pieropan. Digging into the history of the winery and winemaking in the region. Enjoy!

Listen to Andrea Pieropan discuss Pieropan’s history with Monty Waldin.

In the Winery

In 2022 Pieropan opened a new winery built into the hillside below their vineyards. Below you see botte on the left used to age La Rocca and cement tanks on the right used to age Calvarino.

Where in the World is Pieropan?

Is located in Soave in the region of Veneto in the north-east of Italy. Soave lies just to the west of Verona.

Look for Soave Classico on non-Cru wine, it tells you the fruit is from the better sites. You can see it at around 2min 40s in the geographic film below the orangey section. Most of the Cru sites sit within this the Soave Classico denomination.