Wine of the Week! 11/13/23

Farina Soave Classico

Normally $19.99 / Now on Sale for $14.96
85% Garganega, 15% Trebbiano di Soave and Pinot Bianco

The Farina family has been involved in grape growing and winemaking in northeastern Italy’s Valpolicella region for over a century. Located in San Pietro in Cariano (just northwest of Verona), the family wasn’t able to buy their farm until the 1960s making the transition from being manual laborers to being “the Man.” Today. Farina’s vineyards and winery are in their fourth generation of family ownership with cousins Claudio and Elena at the helm. However, although the Farinas are, indeed, sustainably growing grapes in Valpolicella, this wine is not from those grapes.

The Soave Classico region sits just under 20 miles away to the southeast, on the other side of Verona. Outside of the medieval city that gives the region its name, Soave is a hilly land, where medieval kings commanded their palaces and shrines to be built, and where, hundreds of years before that, Romans were enjoying the wine made from grapes grown in its volcanic and limestone soil.

Soave’s chief grape is Garganega, one of Italy’s great white grapes, and the Farinas use it for over 80% of this wine, with the remainder being Pinot Bianco and Trebbiano di Soave. None of the grapes see any oak, only stainless steel, which is surprising considering the roundness of the mouthfeel belying the deeply embedded acid. Though white, this wine is rich, sitting on your mid- and back palate with touches of ashiness flitting around the fruit.

You can believe it when people talk about good Garganegas being whites that you can age for a couple of years. However, we have no problem drinking this wine right now!