Soave winemakers approve tighter regulations on production
As the Soave wine growing region undergoes a major shake up of the rules governing its production, a co-operative of local winemakers have elected Sandro Gini as its new president.
The Consortium for the Protection of Soave represents around 2,500 estates spread over 7,000 hectares in northern Italy, encompassing the Soave DOC and DOCG appellations. Both of these zones are further sub-divided into a general and classico designation for the wines produced around the sloping vineyards of Verona.
Gini — who owns family-run estate Gini Sandro and Claudio — will work with vice presidents Maria Patrizia Niero and Massimino Stizzoli to implement the tougher production guidelines to raise the profile of the region’s white wines. A range of new winemaking regulations in Soave, including the fact that all wines must be bottled within the region of production in order to carry DOC and DOCG status is expected to be passed.
“I want to involve the whole supply chain, from the winegrower to the winemaker, in a dynamic and constructive way, through a continuous dialogue, to reaffirm Soave as one the great white wines of the world for breadth of styles and ageing capacity,” said Gini.
Soave’s winemakers have agreed on “several key initiatives” to raise the standard of wine grown in the denomination, a move which has already “renewed interest" in influential markets such as the UK, the US and Japan according to Aldo Lorenzoni, the Consortium’s director. “We will be redefining and developing our communications programs in those markets,” he said.