The wines Breganze DOC

Vincenzo D’Antonio Reports

I know a place where the smooth wind blows sweetly and where my eyes can see the real picture of the Paradise, with its mountains, its hills, its rivers and, everywhere, its vineyards which are eventually realized in several excellent wines.

This magical place does exist and its location is in Veneto, close to the well known art town of Vicenza. Its territory includes the towns of Breganze and the very cute and characteristic Bassano del Grappa, with its famous Ponte degli Alpini, its delicious historical centre and the wonderful scenery of the mountain called Grappa.

And, by the way, Bassano del Grappa is also the headquarter of grappa.

You cannot miss to visit the museum of grappa at Poli, a very clever and famous grappa maker and then taste there its delicious grappa (www.poligrappa.com).

In October, from 5 to 12 in Bassano del Grappa there is the event named distillerie aperte meaning that you can visit the grappa makers when they distil the vinacce to make grappa and, perhaps, enjoy the youngest grappa you ever tasted !

In this area the great architect Andrea Palladio is everywhere and, by the way, this current year is the 500th anniversary of his birth.

The delicious town of Marostica is a small jewel of this area and the Altopiano di Asiago is the dear dad that watches and sweetly smiles on everything.

The two holy rivers which hug these places are Astico and Brenta.

Sometimes here the local people, if thirsty, drink water but, believe me, it happens rarely !!!

We are in the kingdom of the wines Breganze DOC.

And, among these wines we’d like to focus on two of them: Vespaiolo and Torcolato, made with the same grape: Vespaiola.

First of all, why this name ? Because the wasps like these grapes very much. And why wasps like these grapes so very much ? Oh, because of the sugar in it !

Vespaiolo has a charming yellow colour, almost golden; the nose receives a very nice smell of fruit, agrumi (citrus) especially. The flavour is fresh and full.

There is no doubt that the best match of Vespaiolo is with fish, especially, in my opinion, fish cooked in the salt and, of course, also with baccalà whose headquarter in Italy is this area.

The winemakers of this wine are, more or less, sixteen.

Among the bottles that we tasted, we appreciated particularly the Vespaiolo made by Az. Agr. Vitacchio Guerrino, where the winemakers are the two very nice brothers Vitacchio with their father Guerrino, older then 90 years, still in the winery! Az. Agr. Villa Magna (www.villamagnawines.com) whose soul and brain is the charming Lady Graziella Novello and Vignaioli Contrà Soarda di Mirco Gottardi (www.contrasoarda.it), famous also for their restaurant in Bassano del Grappa, Il Pulierin (www.pulierin.it).

About Torcolato, it is a very elegant wine whose role is at the end of a delicious dinner.

The grapes are also Vespaiola but they are hung and dried to concentrate the flavour, the added benefit is they also become sweet. The colour is aged gold, the smell is strong and elegant with nuances of honey and dried grapes. In the mouth it becomes smooth in a very elegant way and it asks for biscotti.

Among the bottles that we tasted, we enjoyed particularly the Torcolato made by Maculan (www.maculan.net).

Maculan processes the grapes in January, then they are aged in barriques for 12 months, but before they are declared ready, they stay another 6 months in the bottle.

In his opinion, the opinion of Mr. Maculan, the best moment to taste Torcolato is after five years of its harvest.

A further jewel of this wonderful area of Veneto is the famous cheese Asiago DOP and soon we will talk about it