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I was very impressed with Soave Classico Superiore from the Tesco Finest range. Soave is white wine from my favourite region in Italy, Veneto. Like all Italian wines, the wine takes the name of the region rather than the grape. The grape is Garganega and is grown in the hills above the city of Soave, only 12 miles east of Verona where I love the food and wine and the opera festival in August.  Usually, Soave purchased in the supermarket is very fresh and lemony and can often lack character but this Soave was interesting, full bodied and wonderful.The colour was deep, bright gold. I have never seen such a golden Soave outside of Italy. The nose was pineapple chunks and on the palate, there was a complete lack of acidity.  Soave Classico usually has a fresh acidity but this Soave Classico Superiore was floral and smooth, sweet pineapple with a long finish of lime and oak. I was really impressed with this wine.

I drank Soave Classico Superiore 2016 over two evenings. When first opened it, it was gorgeous but benefitted from the addition of food. I served it with vegetarian pizza and salad. The cheese and vegetables on the pizza were a perfect match and the cheese matched the oak on the length. I had copious amounts of olive oil on my salad and avoided tomatoes as tomatoes are too acidic for this wine. The match with the olive oil was perfect.  This confirms the adage ‘what grows together goes together’. The olive oil was from a similar region as the wine, a town around Lake Garda;  Peschiera del Garda.

On the second evening the wine was wonderful without food.  Oxygen had tamed it and it had a smooth honeyed sweetness. I served the wine with grilled salmon marinated only in lemon, salt and pepper, boiled new potatoes and salad, again not tomatoes. The match was perfect.

I will definitely be stocking up on Soave Classico Superiore 2016 from Tesco Finest.  An absolute bargain at £7. why is it so cheap?  In Lake Garda wines are  created and bottled in the vineyard. How can the vineyard survive when they sell their wine so cheaply? A question for another day but one that concerns me. When I was in Lake Garda I paid more for a Lugana wine from the vineyard than the same wine costs in Waitrose.  The other side of the coin is that if the English supermarkets didn’t buy these wines in large quantities we wouldn’t learn about them unless we can travel to the countries of origin.

Soave Classico Superiore 2016 from Tesco Finest- £7

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