From: Veneto, Italy
Varietals: 60% Corvina, 35% Rondinella, 5% Molinara
Tasting Notes: This has some pithy aromas with citrus and sweet cherry hints. In the mouth it's relatively soft, the wave of fresh acidity that slowly advances on the mid-palate alongside cherry and strawberry fruit and hints of grapefruit. It finishes quite dry and steely, with a lovely mineral touch.
Pairing: The versatile nature of this rosato makes it an excellent companion to a wide range of dishes, spanning light starters to more substantial main courses. Given its bright acidity and fresh fruit flavors, this rosé is a delightful match for fresh seafood, grilled fish, pork, and turkey. It's an ideal choice for social gatherings, serving as a refreshing accompaniment to a wide array of appetizers.
As a quintessential product of Veneto, the Chiaretto di Bardolino pairs exquisitely with regional cuisine. Enjoy it with antipasti, or first courses featuring fish from both sea and lake. Given its Mediterranean character, it also complements pizza and sushi beautifully.
For vegetarians, this wine is a versatile partner, lending itself well to summer vegetarian dishes. It can add a refreshing counterpoint to salads, grilled vegetables, and young cheeses. The wine's acidity and fruit-forward flavors make it a delightful pairing with tomato-based dishes and a wide range of pizzas. This recipe by Ali Slagle for Orzo Salad With Lentils and Zucchini would be incredible!
About. When Franco Piona of Cavalchina isn’t on tour with Billy Gibbons and Steve Vai as their trusted guitar tech, he makes his home near Lake Garda, in the tiny village of Custoza. His family has deep roots here; they single-handedly created the Custoza appellation in the 1970s, after 10 years of labeling their wines as Custoza, but their history here goes back even further. It was Franco’s grandfather Luciano that planted the first vineyards and started making wine in 1948 after World War II. Lake Garda and the surrounding hills were cut by receding glaciers after the ice age, and the resulting morainic soils are excellent for the cultivation of grapes. In fact, it was the Hapsburgs who ruled this area prior to the unification of Italy that classified it as top notch land for vineyards.
Today, brothers Franco and Luciano are at the helm of their grandfather’s estate, producing two Custoza whites, this absolutely delightful Bardolino Chiaretto Rose, and three Bardolino reds.
The vineyards that produce the Corvina (60%), Rondinella (35%), and Molinara (5%) in this blend are located between 100 and 120 meters above sea level and they are south facing. The vine is trained in a single guyot. The morainic sedimentary soils are composed of a mix of limestone, clay and a small presence of gravel.
Chiaretto was historically made with the juice that was ‘run off’ of the Bardolino rosso’ after a brief maceration with the skins, but for this wine harvest took place about two weeks earlier than for Cavalchina's Bardolino (red) to preserve freshness. Fermentation took place after a short, low-temperature maceration with the skins. Malolactic fermentation was blocked and the wine aged on its lees until bottling.
