Let’s have a chat with Cantina di Soave
Cantina di Soave’s Lessini Durello DOC Spumante Brut “Settecento33” was awarded “Best Sparkling Wine of 2019” by 5StarWines – the Book, with a phenomenal score of 93/100.
Since that was not the only bottle by Cantina di Soave that made it in our guide, in this blog post we would like to dig deeper into the rich history of an iconic cantina in Veneto. In addition to identifying high-level products, one of our main priorities at 5StarWines is to create connections between wineries and various industry professionals. In this blog we are proud to introduce iconic wine producers, wineries’ directors, and influential figures that play a key role in the wine world.
Wolfgang Raifer, born in the Appiano County, Alto-Adige, is the vice director of Cantina di Soave. In an interview with Italian Wine Podcast host Monty Waldin, Raifer to discusses both the origin of the Cantina and the changes occurring inside the wine world. Cantina di Soave is the biggest producer of Soave wine, with a total of 6000 hectares and more than 2500 growers.
“Soave” is an ancient denomination dating back to the Roman Empire, where the term was used to categorize a wine of great quality. The history of the denomination has always been positive – even though lately there have been some challenges in the market. Raifer claims that the approach to the market, for every kind of product, needs to be gradual and finalized to educate consumers about a specific product: “A brand can’t be strong internationally if it’s not strong also at home”.
Raifer also discusses the high quality and versatility of Soave wines, that makes them both easy-to-drink in the short term and with the complexity of premium wines. The main characteristics of Soave are its typical flavors of citrus fruit combined with a touch of almond flavor and fresh acidity in the palate, never too intense.
Cantina di Soave is also keen on sustainability, as Raifer states in the podcast interview: “We focus on sustainability by enforcing it in the vineyard and in the cellar. Our investment means spending less energy to do what we need to do in the cellars and using only the treatments that are actually needed in the vineyards”. According to Raifer, quality and sustainability are crucial, yet there is the need of being realistic and introducing changes at the right pace. The approach towards organic production needs to be implemented gradually, since 6000 hectares of vines means that there are both professional growers that work on the vineyard full time and smaller growers that can only focus on the vineyards during the weekends.
Environmental sustainability is tightly connected with respect towards growers, culture, and society. A lot have been discussed about sustainability during the last wine2wine event, being it its main focus. Changes therefore must account for all of these factors. Witnessing the work that wineries do taking into account all the steps in the production chain is an incentive for the whole industry, especially when results are tangible. Commitment towards hard work always pays back, and Cantina di Soave is a perfect example of this.
To find out all of the other wines that made it into 5StarWines – the Book, go here!
