Thursday 29 June 2023
Today we went wine-tasting in Soave. It’s a white wine region that didn’t have a very good name back in the day – mass-produced plonk that was a byword for cheap. Imagine Sharon asking for a glass of swar-vay. As in many other places around the world, a new generation of winemakers are busy fixing this perception. What really surprised me is that the town of Soave has the most amazing medieval town walls with a fortress perched above it – looks beautiful from a distance among all the vines, and very impressive close up.
We followed a bit of a common pattern tasting wine here: start with random pick that turns out to be closed, then go onto a big maker, then a random pick that turns out good and finish with a recommendation that is excellent but pricier. It’s a surprisingly common experience (with variations).
The big maker was Pieropan, set in an impressive sweep of modern architecture blended with the vine-clad hills, all kinda glossy and manned by professional staff. It’s still a good intro to the crisp and fruity whites made mostly with garganega grapes.
Before lunch in Soave town itself we stop at Coffele, where a friendly chap takes us through at least seven different wines in their range (most Soave winemakers make Valpolicella reds as well as Soave) and explains the terroir and winemaking. It’s good stuff, too, and includes a powerful Amarone – the hefty red wine made with partially dried grapes that is the most exclusive product of Valpolicella.
Lunch gives us chance to try a few Soaves from our first random pick (the one that was closed – or, in this case, just doesn’t do tastings without a booked tour), and they were excellent too.
After a drive around the hills, which felt like a good thing to do but ended up just being a fairly uninspiring hour in the car with the odd stop for photos, we found our way to Pra. This winery looked like someone’s house from the outside, and even more so from the inside. We felt like we’d wandered onto the set of a homely TV cooking show. Their wines were probably the best we tried, and the prices reflected it. But if I’m brutally honest, there are other white wines I’d pick over Soave no matter how accomplished the winemaker.
This evening was our Michelin-star meal with Tim & Nessa, Matteo Grandi in the middle of Vicenza. His upstairs dining room does have splendid views of the Palladio basilica (we watched other people having a meal on the roof terrace of it), as well as impressive stone tables and silly glass centrepieces. But this was the first occasion in a loooong time when service rather spoiled a meal.
After a few tasty amuse bouche we fell to chatting, and only gradually realised we’d been chatting for nearly an hour. Something had obviously gone wrong with our starters. But far from coming over to let us know, the staff seemed to be studiously avoiding our table (apart from the water waiter, who was very assiduous at filling our glasses). So eventually we asked and the starters miraculously appeared a minute later. But… even though he happily emerged to schmooze with a couple of other tables, chef didn’t think it worth coming over to apologise to the English table for the lamentable service. Pfffff. For the record, the food was mostly good and unabashedly powerful flavours, but nothing epic.
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