The Veneto Wine

Veneto wine is produced in nearly 80,000 hectares of vineyards and it has a production of over 8 and a half million hectoliters of which more than 2 million and a half produced in DOC and DOCG areas. Veneto is one of the first in Europe for the quality and quantity of its production. This can be summarized into three main areas: Veronese, near the lake of Garda; Soave, Berici and Euganean Hills, between Vicenza, Padua and Rovigo; Treviso and the Piave on the border with Friuli.
There are many and various famous wines of the Veneto, among which Prosecco, and the symbol wine of  Valpolicella area is Amarone and its history. Born for a case beacuse a barrel of sweet Recioto was forgotten and its yeast consumed the sugar. Amarone has a few decades of life, but has become a great wine thanks to the selection and the withering of the grapes and the aging of the bottles.

The drying is a technical to get from the grapes, wines with a rich taste and aroma of ripe fruit. The selected grapes are dried on special wooden containers or barrels. From dried grapes are derived fine wines generally called sweet or “passiti” (dessert wines), of which the Veneto has ancient and rich tradition.

The classic way to grow the grapevines in the Valpolicella area is said “pergola Veronese”. The delicate varieties grown in this region are so more
protected from the summer sun. The term Valpolicella identifies three valleys, a total of about 7500 hectares and distinct from each other, with a strong rural imprint and this term according to many, means “valley with many wineries”. Here originate some of the finest red wines such as Amarone of Valpolicella DOCG, Recioto of Valpolicella DOCG, a sweet dessert wine (passito). And again: Valpolicella Ripasso DOC, the result of an ancient technique that gives the wine more structure and color through fermentation on the marc of Amarone and Recioto, and finally the Valpolicella Doc, the ideal product for drinkability and freshness.

The wine Prosecco was named from an hamlet of Trieste where it was produced in 500. Strongly defended by the territory of production. In 2009 the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry decreed the reorganization of the “world” of prosecco with the recognition of three denominations of orgins: Prosecco DOC; Conegliano and Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco.

The Conegliano of Valdobbiadene and Porsecco DOCG is produced in 15 municipalities to which belong the hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. Among them we have the Cru: Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze, produced in a narrower area of about 100 hectares, it has the Ribe mention, made with grapes grown in vineyards located in the steepest hills areas. In the area of Valdobbiadene DOCG, infact, we find the Cartizze, from grapes of the steep terraces where the roots dig in the soil obtaining the organic nutrients and minerals that give the wine its special flavor, a sensation pleasantly saline.
Also the province of Treviso is part of the nine provinces of Prosecco DOC, which includes five provinces of the Veneto and some provinces of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Among the five provinces of Veneto Prosecco, Treviso is the most important and collects both the Conegliano Valdobbiadene and the Asolo DOCG productions with about 20,000 hectares, 10,000 companies, 1,200 companies and over 300 wineries bottling companies which produced in 2014 over 300 million bottles.

At the beginning the Prosecco was made sparkling with bottle fermentation. There was already a method in large containers, but it did not give great results so they started to produce with a second fermentation in the bottle. Only after the great war they started again with the “spumantizzation” (sparkling) in large pan and eventually a second fermentation in the bottle. Today, the sugar content reaches to 8 grams per liter, while the Cartizze maintain 20 grams per liter like the past.

On the ancient native islands of the Venetian lagoon Mazzorbo, Torcello and Burano stood vineyards, and in Massorbo we find one of the last examples of walled vineyard. An area of about two hectares entirely surrounded by medieval walls, Venissa. Here was planted the Durona, historical native vineyard with white grape of Venezia, grown since the fifteenth century, but concealed risk and recovered by a arche-oenology project. This aimed to revive the golden grapes of the Venetian doges in a search that binds the grapes to its particular territory, carried out by the research Centre of Conegliano viticulture, from Veneto Agriculture and some private entrepreneurs.

The history of the Veneto wine

The history of the Veneto wine has a dual development:
– great wines such as Prosecco, Amarone, Soave, Valpolicella that have shaped the history of Veneto wine in the world;
– a world of small details vines, native and historians who are real jewels of viticulture of Veneto and represent very different geological identity originated from the ancient seabed, by volcanic or calcareous soils, and to which correspond varieties with different characteristics.
Among the great vineyards we remember especially those that produces sweet wines, linked to the culture of the Venetian Republic, which imported the wines from the East, and among these Recioto Valpolicella, Soave and Gambellara, Torcolato, Torchiato of Fregna, examples of different grapes but white and characterized by great territorial typicality.

DOCG Veneto wine: Amarone della Valpolicella, Bagnoli Friularo, Bardolino Superiore, Colli Asolani Prosecco/Asolo-Prosecco, Colli di Conegliano, Fior D’Arancio Colli Euganei, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco/Valdobbiadne Prosecco, Lison, Montello Rosso /Montello, Malanotte del Piave, Recioto della Valpolicella, Recioto di Gambellara, Recioto di Soave, Soave Superiore.

DOC Veneto wine: Arcole, Bagnoli di Sopra/bagnoli, Bardolino, Breganze,  Bianco di Custoza/Custoza, Colli Berici, Colli Euganei,  Corti Benedettine del  Padovano, Gambellara, Garda, Durello Lessini, Lison Pramaggiore, Lugana, Merlara, Montello Colli Asolani, Monti Lessini, Piave, Prosecco, Riviera del Brenta, San Martino della Battaglia, Soave, Valdadige,   Valdadige Terradeiforti, Valpolicella, Valpolicella Ripasso, Venezia, Vicenza, Vigneti della Serenissima.

IGT Veneto wine: Alto Livenza, Colli Trevigiani, Conselvano, Delle Venezie, Marca Trevigiana, Veronese, Vallagarina, Veneto, veneto orientale, Vigneti delle Dolomiti.