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I Love Italian Wine and Food - The Veneto Region

If you are looking for fine Italian wine and food, consider the Veneto region of northern Italy. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you?ll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour.

Veneto is located in northeastern Italy on the Gulf of Venice. The region is mountainous with all kinds of water; rivers, lakes, lagoons, and of course, canals. In its heyday, during the Renaissance (Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries), the Venetian Republic ruled a large part of northern Italy, and was a major player in the world of commerce and culture. Veneto?s present population is about 4.5 million.

Veneto?s capital, Venice, is one of the world?s top tourist destinations, claiming 60 million visitors a year. Its attractions are too numerous to list here. Venice?s neighbor, Padua, is the oldest city in northern Italy. Padua was the home of the famous astronomer Gallileo Gallilei. The metropolitan region encompassing these two cities has over 1.6 million people. Another city of interest is Verona with its numerous Roman and medieval monuments.

Agricultural products include cattle, corn, wheat, sugar beets, and of course grapes. With all the water you can be sure that fish and seafood abound. Rice is more important than pasta, and lovers of sweets will not be disappointed. Industries include textiles, silk, shipbuilding, and sugar refining, but the major industry remains tourism.

Veneto devotes almost 250 thousand acres to grapevines, it ranks 3rd among the 20 Italian regions. Its total annual wine production is almost 180 million gallons, also giving it a 3rd place. About 45% of the wine production is red or ros?, leaving 55% for white. The region produces 24 DOC wines and 3 DOCG wines, Recioto di Soave, Soave Superiore, and Bardolino Superiore. DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which may be translated as Denomination of Controlled Origin, presumably a high-quality wine. The G in DOCG stands for Garantita, but there is in fact no guarantee that such wines are truly superior. Almost 30% of Venetian wine carries the DOC or DOCG designation. Veneto is home to about four dozen major and secondary grape varieties, approximately half white and half red.

Widely grown international white grape varieties include Trebbiano, Chardonnay, and Pinot Bianco, known as Pinot Blanc outside of Italy. The best-known strictly Italian white varieties are Garganega and Prosecco.

Widely grown international red grape varieties include Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. The best-known strictly Italian red varieties are Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara.

Before we reviewing the Veneto wine and cheese that we were lucky enough to purchase at a local wine store and a local Italian food store, here are a few suggestions of what to eat with indigenous wine when touring this beautiful region.

Start with Pasta e Fasioli; Pasta and Bean Soup.

Then try Risotto de Scampi; Scampi Risotto.

For dessert indulge yourself with Torta de Paparele; Lemon Tagliatelle Cake.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY While we have communicated with well over a thousand Italian wine producers and merchants to help prepare these articles, our policy is clear. All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed

Corte Gardoni Bianco di Custoza DOC 2004 12.5% alcohol about $8

I?ll start with the marketing materials. ?Floral notes mixed with sweet red Delicious apple and Bosc pear aromatics form the inviting and lifted nose. The flavors are quite different with citrus and green apples coming to the fore. It is light to medium-bodied, providing a tangy finish that would pair well with grilled, firm (tuna or sword) fish.? And now for my thoughts.

This wine was first paired to a commercial chicken pot pie with a bit of chili-lime hot sauce. I tasted some apple. It was quite weak at first, but did pick up some strength from sip to sip.

The next meal was more in line with the marketing suggestions, namely grilled salmon filet with oven-baked potato patties and French fries. While there was some apple taste, essentially the wine didn?t add anything to the meal. However, it went well with dessert, thin biscuits containing almonds and pistachios.

My next trial included chicken legs in a soy and onion sauce with rice and green beans. The wine was not unpleasant but was light and fleeting.

Montasio cheese is a specialty of the Veneto region. It is made from cow?s milk and can have a sharp flavor when it ages. I was happy when the wine was able to handle this strong cheese. It didn?t do as well with an Asiago cheese, also from the Veneto area.

Final verdict, I won?t be buying this wine again, even at its relatively low price.

Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet, but to be honest, he would rather just drink fine Italian or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. His wine website is http://www.theworldwidewine.com

A synopsis on Renault Winery.

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A Wine Writer Artilce for Your Viewing

How to Grow Grapes for Excellent Wine

I think it quite safe to say that more has been written about the cultivation of grapes than has - or ever will be - written about any other fruit. This is not surpris?ing, considering that the grape is probably the oldest of known fruits.

Surprisingly, grapes do not need loads of manures and fertilizers; they grow well on quite poor soils and need little after-attention. The roots will search out and find what they want; all we have to concern ourselves with is where to put the top-growth - the vine itself.

If one wall of your house faces south, south-west or even west, that problem is solved very easily. If you cannot plant the vine under that particular wall, plant it round the corner and train the vine round to the sunny side of the house. Grapes may be grown in the open garden in similar fashion to loganberries, or they may be trained over sheds, garages, out-houses and such-like.

Vines are not expensive, and if two are planted, the yield may be regarded as fantastic when considering the value of the wine that may be made for many years.

Planting is best carried out in autumn and in any case before Christmas. If planting against a wall, take out a hole about two feet each way and plant so that the stem of the vine is about fifteen inches away from the wall itself. Dig deeply and work in any compost that may be available and some builders' rubble if you can get some. A dusting of lime forked in will be helpful. Spread out the roots well and plant as recommended for fruit trees.

Having planted the vine, spread a little manure above the roots: this will not be necessary in subsequent seasons, but the vine will benefit from a mulch each spring if you can give it one.

Vines must not be allowed to fruit the first season; therefore they must be cut back to about four buds.

Having planted the vine and cut it back, we must decide how to train it to cover the wall.

The best plan is to use special wall nails, run wires to and from these and train the vine to the wires.

The four long growths that come from the four buds you left when cutting back are stopped at the bud nearest the growing point. These four leaders are the basis from which the vine will be built up to cover the wall. If flower buds form during the first season, they should be nipped off so that the vine uses its energy producing wood for subsequent fruiting. First-season fruiting often permanently weakens a vine.

When pruning, remem?ber that next year's fruit will be borne on the wood made this year. But we do not want masses of long, straggling growths hanging about all over the place, so during the summer it is best to cut some of them out. Those left to bear next year's fruit should be cut back to five or six buds in autumn or early winter. Only new growth should be cut during the summer; never cut old wood during summer - indeed old wood must never be cut after Christmas, as this can cause profuse bleeding which may be quite impossible to stop. By all means cut away some of the old growth to make way for new wood, but if this has not been done before Christmas leave it until the next winter.

Many varieties ripen in September - or earlier if the summer has been good. This is especially advantageous because the weather is still warm enough for a satisfactory fer?ment when you come to make the wine. This is not so important to those who carry out their fermentation in the house, but where it has to be carried on in a shed or outhouse the warm weather is a great help.

About The Author

Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on home wine making have appeared in print and on many websites. You can find more of these at: www.makinggreatwine.com

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