(Gelasio Gaetani) BARDOLINO, Veneto — The Consorzio Vini Bardolino’s centenary days in Bardolino in October took me back to London in the 1980s, when I was working for Belloni Ltd, then owned by the Marchesi Antinori of Florence.
My job was to sell Italian wines to the many Italian restaurants that were opening in that distant era. The red that restaurateurs preferred to buy, case after case, was Bardolino. The English adored it because it was affordable, costing little more than the beer in the pubs scattered across every town and village in the United Kingdom.
It had a gracious, gentle colour, a transparent and brilliant red, fresh and fruity, pleasant to drink, very delicate and balanced. The sturdier Bardolinos were also enveloping, with soft, velvety tannins.A glass of Bardolino (Credits: Natasha Berto/Consorzio Vini Bardolino)
It won people over with its drinkability, even though it enjoyed great prestige. Its success lay in having the courage to be different from the French wines that were revered. The courage to be Bardolino.
A Garda weekend
In August 1986 a great childhood friend, Count Agostino Guarienti di Brenzone, invited my wife Noemi and me to spend a weekend at his wonderful estate at Punta San Vigilio on Lake Garda. The occasion was the private visit of King Charles III, then the young Prince Charles.
Since then, some 40 years have flown by, and many things have changed in the world of Italian wine. Young people drink less, and when they do drink they look for light, fresh wines rather than structured, alcoholic ones. Older drinkers, even more so, want light wines with a specific identity.
Three gentle characters
Yet Bardolino still presents itself with an identity that cannot be reproduced and a unique climatic calling. It is made from three uve gentili (gentle grapes), Corvina Veronese at up to 95 percent, Rondinella, and Molinara. Its wines run from pale pink to light ruby, with ripe red fruit and, in the stricter reds, notes of blood orange and flint.
Bardolino and Chiaretto (Credits: Natasha Berto/Consorzio Vini Bardolino)
At 100, its gentleness may yet prove its strength. Paradoxically, Bardolino, called a gentle wine, will increasingly be ranked among the greatest Italian wines.
Editor’s notes:
Since April 2021 the Bardolino DOC (controlled designation of origin) recognises three historic subzones, La Rocca, Montebaldo, and Sommacampagna, three different characters of one identity. La Rocca on the shore is Mediterranean, while Sommacampagna, to the south, is more continental. Montebaldo is shaped by the lake breezes that mingle with the colder north winds coming over Monte Baldo.
Fabio Dei Micheli, president of the Consorzio (growers’ consortium) that was founded in 1926, has said “we wanted a centenary without formalities, one that looks to the future more than to the past.” Its 817 members expect 20 million bottles in 2026, according to recent press reports.
- This article was originally published by https//italynow.co.uk
