Email - Soave

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Today we are answering a question from the email asking “What is Soave? I know it is Italian but is it a grape or as you often tell us about Italian wines, a place?”

Well the question is, just what is Soave?  It is actually a place and a white wine. There is a town in Verona in the northeast of Italy and the wine takes its name from the town. The wine is made in several different styles primarily from the garganega and trebbiano di soave grapes. The one most popular is a dry white wine. It is often light delicate in scent and crisp and very approachable. The quality levels do vary and I recommend you look for Soave with an indication on the label that it comes from Classico Superiore or ask your wine merchant for recommendations of some of the upscale Soave they might carry. And yes you can be fairly comfortable that in this case price is an indication of quality. Serve it cold with appetizers and along with all of those great summer vegetable dishes. In addition to the dry still wine you may be able to find sparkling Soave which is very nice with chilled scallops or seafood salads. I have also had very sweet dessert style soave wines just made for cookies to be dipped in.  I know it often has a negative connotation as a cheap insipid Italian white wine, but not all soave is created equal. Try searching out some of the better representatives of this very popular Italian white wine. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at Vine to Wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.