Balestri Valda Soave Crus
While so much in Soave has stayed the same – big industrial wineries still dominate – so, so much has changed as new producers in the original zone continue to follow the lead of the greats like Pieropan and search out more meaningful expressions from the volcanic hills that surround the medieval town. These days the new or reinvented breed include the likes of Suavia, Inama, Gini, Pra, Anselmi, and Battistelle to name a few notables. The other day I tasted a new one to me, Balestri Valda. Two wines, both brilliant and both layered with complexity.
They are one of the newbies to watch. Well, they’re kind of new; the Rizzotto family has operated the estate for years, partly selling fruit and making a bit of wine but more than anything operating a sparkling wine facility to contract-make for other producers in the region. That is until daughter Laura and her partner Federico returned to the estate with radically new ideas.
They have revolutionized the wines in no time. Her passion is for organics and the promotion of biodiversity. She’s a trained bee-keeper and it’s this sensibility to the inter-connectedness of all parts of nature and how it effects modern agriculture that powers her passion for change.
The two wines I’m offering today - single cru Sengialta and a 100% Trebbiano di Soave called Libertate - provide all the evidence you need that her approach is creating wines with a great sense of place and quality. Moreover, they show that the promotion of cru in Soave is wholly authentic. Sengialta is their cru (single-vineyard site), surrounded by woodland, her colony of bees live in harmony with the vines. The underlying soil is basalt but here there are also veins of limestone; the former creating depth and richness and the latter maintaining freshness and drive.
Sengialta is based around Garganega and sports all the usual pear, apple and almond blossom one would want but the intensity is turned up to 11 here before the saline flecked undertow tightens the wine bringing back focus and finishing with a nice almond pucker.
The Libertate is 100% trebbiano di soave. The ubiquitous trebbiano comes in many guises across Italy but the local mutation is something different, producing wines of real interest and intensity. Those of you familiar with Suavia’s Massifitti can attest to just how fabulous these mono-varietal bottling from Soave can be. Libertate is another beauty. Florals and fruit spectrum run to the more exotic but again, tethered to the limestone base.
These wines are another example of how valid the use of cru and commune are within the Soave zone. This push on behalf of this kind of grower and the consorzio more generally is much more than marketing. There is difference, in some instances strikingly so. Diverse textures, minerality, fruit expression create a truly exciting vista of the Soave, one that is not to be missed.
That’s all the good news, the bad news is I only have five dozen of each wine. It’s not an economic exercise to write this offer given that, but the wines deserve an audience. They add fuel to the fire that is reigniting the soul of Soave. Long may they prosper.
Cheers
Michael
They are one of the newbies to watch. Well, they’re kind of new; the Rizzotto family has operated the estate for years, partly selling fruit and making a bit of wine but more than anything operating a sparkling wine facility to contract-make for other producers in the region. That is until daughter Laura and her partner Federico returned to the estate with radically new ideas.
They have revolutionized the wines in no time. Her passion is for organics and the promotion of biodiversity. She’s a trained bee-keeper and it’s this sensibility to the inter-connectedness of all parts of nature and how it effects modern agriculture that powers her passion for change.
The two wines I’m offering today - single cru Sengialta and a 100% Trebbiano di Soave called Libertate - provide all the evidence you need that her approach is creating wines with a great sense of place and quality. Moreover, they show that the promotion of cru in Soave is wholly authentic. Sengialta is their cru (single-vineyard site), surrounded by woodland, her colony of bees live in harmony with the vines. The underlying soil is basalt but here there are also veins of limestone; the former creating depth and richness and the latter maintaining freshness and drive.
Sengialta is based around Garganega and sports all the usual pear, apple and almond blossom one would want but the intensity is turned up to 11 here before the saline flecked undertow tightens the wine bringing back focus and finishing with a nice almond pucker.
The Libertate is 100% trebbiano di soave. The ubiquitous trebbiano comes in many guises across Italy but the local mutation is something different, producing wines of real interest and intensity. Those of you familiar with Suavia’s Massifitti can attest to just how fabulous these mono-varietal bottling from Soave can be. Libertate is another beauty. Florals and fruit spectrum run to the more exotic but again, tethered to the limestone base.
These wines are another example of how valid the use of cru and commune are within the Soave zone. This push on behalf of this kind of grower and the consorzio more generally is much more than marketing. There is difference, in some instances strikingly so. Diverse textures, minerality, fruit expression create a truly exciting vista of the Soave, one that is not to be missed.
That’s all the good news, the bad news is I only have five dozen of each wine. It’s not an economic exercise to write this offer given that, but the wines deserve an audience. They add fuel to the fire that is reigniting the soul of Soave. Long may they prosper.
Cheers
Michael