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09/28/2000 Archived Entry: "Wine Splurge"

I love this wine: Pieropan Soave Classico Superiore, “la Rocca” 1998. I think it is a best of its kind. But beyond its clearly superior quality as compared to run-of-the-mill Soave, or even really good Soave, it is the kind of white wine I personally find extraordinarily appealing. It is dry without being acidic. It is elegant, but not so subtle that I actually have to concentrate on each sip to appreciate its qualities. It has a golden straw hue that makes it a pleasure to look at in the glass. It smells of ripe tropical fruit and has an almondy, buttery flavor, balanced with some earthy mineral notes. It is full-bodied and suave, which, in fact, is what the name Soave means in Italian.

Soave is a place, too. It’s a village near Verona (and in the Province of Verona), where, in the middle of town, the Pieropan winery is located. The winery was started in 1860 by the current Leonildo Pieropan’s grandfather, who is credited with inventing Recioto di Soave, a sweet dessert wine made by drying the Garganega grapes into raisins before extracting their juice and blending it with grape must from fresh grapes. According to Carol Berman, our Food Talk sommelier, the “la Rocca” version – “la Rocca” being the name of the single vineyard from which the grapes are harvested -- of Pieropan’s Soave is made from 100 percent late-harvested Garganega grapes, high in sugar, which is what gives the wine its intense and long-lasting tropical fruit flavors, its golden color, and its 12.5 percent alcohol. That’s a little high for what is usually considered a light white wine.

This is not a Wine Buy of the Week because of its low price/high quality ratio. It’s a Wine Splurge of the Week at about $22 a bottle, but the value is there. It is a rarity and a rare treat. I would save it for a special dinner – it goes well with assertive and/or complex foods because it has so much character. Indeed, I drank a glass with Chinese roast pork the other day and the wine stood up to and complimented the sweetness of the pork beautifully. It would do well with a rich or complexly seasoned or sauced chicken dish, pork dish, or veal dish. I can see it with a cream-sauced pasta, or a pasta or risotto with, say, wild mushrooms, or shellfish such as shrimp or lobster. I would be very, very happy to sip it for its own sake, as long as I had a plate of salted nuts to accompany it, or crostini spread with chicken livers, or any pate.

It is imported by Empson (U.S.A.), Alexandria, Va. There are other bottlings of Pieropan Soave available, too. There is a Soave Classico Superiore that is not from a single vineyard (and consequently less expensive), and another single vineyard wine, “Calvarino.”