2001 Corte Gardoni Bardolino Le Fontane

Corte Gardoni was founded by Gianni Piccoli in 1971, and he and his three sons run the business. Winemaking runs in the Piccoli family DNA. Documents show that the family owned vineyards in the Veneto starting in the early 17th century, and that they were grape growers until phylloxera ravaged the estate in the 19th century. Gianni’s side of the family acquired a new estate and in 1980 Gianni stopped selling grapes to the local cooperative and started making his own wine. Today Corte Gardoni includes 62 acres of vineyards, with additional acres of orchards, olive groves and other farm land. Son Mattia Piccoli is winemaker. The estate makes both the red and white wines of the local appellations. Corvina is the primary red wine grape, which is blended with Rondinella, Molinara, Barbera and Sangiovese. The white wines are blends of Garganega, Trebbiano, Trebbianello, Cortese and Riesling.

Veneto in northeastern Italy is one of the country’s most important wine regions and has 220,000 acres of vineyards. It is the third largest wine producing region in Italy after Sicily and Puglia. Though Veneto produces more red than white wine, it is most famous for its Soave and Prosecco, both white wines. Venice is the best-known city in the region, but the area’s wine-making capital is Verona. Close to Verona are the appellations for Bardolino, Valpolicella and Soave. The Veneto is also home to Amarone, the densely concentrated, seriously alcoholic, big red wines made by using grapes that are partially or fully dried. The results are lush, sometimes nearly syrupy red wines that approach 20% alcohol, even though most are not sweet. The most famous conventional red wine is Valpolicella, which means “valley of many cellars.” The name is perhaps a reference to the fact that Veneto is home to a number of indigenous grapes not found elsewhere, including the deep red grapes Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara, all used to make Valpolicella. Garganega is the indigenous white grape used for Soave.