A Better Italian Soave

A white wine from northeastern Italy?...

Garganega Grapes

About six months ago I reviewed a Soave wine, a high volume wine from the northeastern Veneto region of Italy. This week’s wine is another, more expensive and presumably higher quality Soave made from organically grown grapes. The La Cappucina winery has been in the same family since 1890. The highlight of their estate is a restored Fifteenth Century chapel featured on their label. This particular wine is made from 100% Garganega grapes, instead of using, as is often done, Trebbiano grapes which might bring down the quality. The soil is of volcanic origin (lavic basalt). Interestingly enough while the top little label refers to the organic growing of the grapes, the main label, the back label, and the website make no such mention. Let’s see if this Soave is better than the bargain basement Soave previously reviewed.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
La Cappuccina Soave DOC 2008 13% alcohol about $13

Let’s start with the marketing materials. Description: La Cappuccina estate was established over a hundred years ago by the Tessari clan. They still run it today. They are one of a small handful of Soave producers who have managed to take the Garganega grape to spectacular heights. Rich, opulent and ripe, this flavorful wine comes across almost New World in style with loads of tree and tropical fruit tones. A classy wine for a variety of moderately rich fish and poultry dishes. Our Quality Assurance Laboratory has determined that this wine contains 6 mg/L of free sulphur. And now for my review.

The first sips were light with refreshing acidity. The Soave was fairly short and citrony. My initial meal involved a Middle Eastern specialty, kube also called kibbe, ground beef in crushed bulgur jackets cooked in a sauce with Swiss Chard. The wine’s acidity stepped up and there was some orange. It picked up in length. With a dessert of fruit juice candy the Soave was long but not very flavorful.

The second meal was a boxed eggplant parmiagiana. The Soave tasted of bananas. It was round with refreshing acidity. And yet there wasn’t really all that much to taste or to say.

The final meal started with schmaltz herring packed in oil instead of the more usual vinegar. The herring overpowered the wine, which became almost tasteless. This part of the test really didn’t count because the herring was only an appetizer and because herring is quite hard to pair with wine. The main meal was an omelet with plenty of brown mushrooms and crushed chilies. The Soave had good length but not much flavor. I did get some apples.

The first cheese was a Swiss that came close to gutting the wine. Then came a goat’s milk cheese with roasted garlic. The Soave was long and pleasantly acidic but did not have a lot of flavor.

Final verdict. I won’t buy this wine again. I know it had great reviews but even when it was good it seemed weak. That’s going to close the Soave file for me for a long time.

Access the companion wine A Wine Lover's Weekly Review Of $10 Wine - A Native Sicilian Grillo

About the Author

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 websites include
www.theworldwidewine.com    and    http://www.wineinyourdiet.com

Visit his website devoted to Italian travel www.travelitalytravel.com

Feel free to reprint this entire article which must include the resource box