Pieropan Soave Classico Calvarino 2016
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
#6 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2019
Brilliant straw yellow color with greenish hints. The delicate nose is reminiscent of almond blossoms and marzipan. Good depth of fruit on the palate, nicely balanced by a zingy acidity that enhances its long length. Makes an excellent partner to complex dishes, even with strong flavours particularly risottos such as porcini, or celery, squash and almond, salt cod and other fish including salmon, scallops and crab.
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Wine Enthusiast
Lemon drop candy, apricot, crushed stone, bitter almond and beeswax are just some of the aromas you'll find on this intriguing, classy wine, the 45th anniversary edition of what is one of Italy's most iconic whites. The savory, elegant palate is focused and bright, delivering ripe white stone fruit, citrus, tangy mineral and a hint of baking spice. It's impeccably balanced, with bright acidity. Enjoy now or hold for even more complexity. Drink through 2031.
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James Suckling
Cool and herbal with great vitality and delicacy, as well as the distinctive, rich and complex texture of high-end Soave. Then comes a lime-zest freshness at the long finish. From organically grown grapes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This wine celebrates its 45th anniversary (1971-2016) with this vintage. The 2016 Soave Classico Calvarino (a blend of 70% Garganega and 30% Trebbiano di Soave) is a beautifully bountiful and exuberant wine that bursts forward with stone and exotic fruit, with crushed oyster shell at the back. The wine delivers abundant complexity and depth, and this puts it into a category of its own as far as Italian white wines are concerned. Some 55,000 bottles were made.
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Decanter
This year, the evening before Vinitaly, the wine world was shocked by the death of Leonildo 'Nino' Pieropan, father of Soave, and the baton has now been handed over to his sons.
Calvarino 2016 represents another gem from the mostly volcanic soil of this vineyard, from where Trebbiano di Soave is blended with Garganega. The wine is thus focused on citrus fruit and elderflower, with a hint of smokiness but also a delicate fragrance and vibrancy. -
Wine & Spirits
The 2016 growing season in Soave Classico was long and moderately warm, allowing the thick skins of the garganega grapes to ripen fully as they hung on the vines well into October. This wine flaunts that ripeness in tropical notes of pineapple that mingle with flavors of Bartlett pear and golden apple. Hints of white smoke, salt and crushed rock emerge as the wine opens, revealing the characteristic minerality of this volcanic site. The wine finishes on an upward trajectory, energized by a wash of lemony acidity.
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Enclosed by the original town walls and dominated by its medieval fortress, Soave has a peaceful, timeless quality about it. In the heart of the old town is the winery of Leonildo and Teresita Pieropan, which goes back to 1860. The present Leonildo ("Nino")'s grandfather, Leonildo Senior, founded the estate and 'invented' Recioto di Soave, a concentrated dessert wine applying a system similar to Tuscany's governo to the indigenous, white Garganega grape.
Today, the estate's 74 acres under vine include three single vineyards, all within the historical backbone of the Soave appellation (Soave Classico): Calvarino, La Rocca and Le Colombare. Terrain is respectively clayey/basaltic, calcareous/clayey, and clayey/marly/tuffaceous, yielding small crops of highly concentrated Garganega and Trebbiano grapes. The range is crafted by Leonildo himself, whose wine-making genius, constant research and innovative methods have carved a unique niche for these exceptional, extract-full and long-living whites that go far, far beyond their own appellation.
One of Italy’s classic white varieties, Garganega flourishes in the rolling vineyards surrounding the medieval village of Soave and is the dominant variety in the wine from the region, aptly known as, Soave. By law it makes up 70-100% of the blend with the remainder traditionally finished off by Trebbiano di Soave for its crispness. Somm Secret—The best Soave wines, measurably elegant and vibrant, come from the Soave Classico zone, in the center of Soave, where the hills are made of decomposed volcanic and granitic soils.
Among Italy’s classic whites capable of great potential, Soave is named after the medieval village and surrounding hillsides from whence it comes. The original, historical Soave zone, delimited back in 1927, covers the eastern, volcanic hillsides of today's general Soave zone and is called Soave Classico.
Garganega, the indigenous grape responsible for great Soave, produces medium bodied white wines with fine acidity. Typical in the best Soaves are lively flowery and fresh herbal aromas and flavors such as orange zest, peach, melon and marjoram. The best can take some age and in so doing, develop notes of chamomile, marmalade and honey.
By the 1960s and 70s, Soave was enjoying such a glorious global reputation, that its demand forced growers to push beyond the zone's original borders. Expansion led west out of the hills and onto the alluvial plain of the Adige River. This, coupled with an increase in yields and allowance of additional varieties such as Trebbiano, Chardonnay and Pinot blanc, met demand but created a softer, fruit-forward, everyday Soave. Today the broader region can be the source of charming and value driven whites. But those labeled as Soave Classico or in rare cases, as Soave Colli Scaligeri (nearby hillside vineyards abutting the Classico zone), will be the best quality and age-worthy Soaves. These are often 100% Garganega.