Italian Wine
The average knowledge of Italian wine outside of Italy is limited to Chianti, Bardolino, Pinot Grigio and Soave or for those who like to spend a bit more…Barolo and Amarone. So you may be surprised to know that there are in fact over 350 registered grape varieties and that Italy culture is based around wine. In fact Italians lead the world in wine consumption by volume with 70 litres per capita consumption, compared to 25 litres in the US and 20 litres in Australia.
Lake Garda Wine
There are 20 wine producing regions in Italy, 3 of which have borders on the shores of Lake Garda: Lombardy in the south and west, Veneto in the east and the Trentino-South Tyrol region to the north. Lake Garda is therefore a fantastic location to begin your adventure with Italian wine. Local reds include the classic Amarone, and also Valpolicella, Marzemino, Lagrien, Garda Classico and Groppello.
My favourite of the whites is Lugana, which is mostly grown along the south shore, where the town of the same name is situated. Soave is from the Veneto region is probably the most well known outside of Italy, and Gewürztraminer, from the Alto-Adige region in the very north of the Trentino-South Tyrol region is a very good find.
Chiaretto is a local rose wine, a wine that is taken so seriously that every year there is a three day festival Italia in Rosa to celebrate it.
Wine Tasting In Lake Garda
There are many opportunities for wine tasting in Lake Garda, there are tourism initiatives such as ‘Cantine Aperte’ and festivals such as Italia in Rosa mentioned above. You can keep up to date of which wine tasting events are on during your stay by subcribing to our events calendar.
Many if not all of the Cantina’s allow you to walk in and taste the wine and it is also possible to have structured tastings which would include food and possibly a tour of the cellar. We can arrange for you to spend the day or half day tasting the wine in a number of cellars, or we can just offer advice.
We can also have a number of bespoke wine tasting tours, one even on horseback.
Check out the pages on this website to discover more about many of Lake Garda’s wineries where you can taste some of the best wines in the world….
Fill out a enquiry form for details or leave a comment below.
if you are in any doubt as to the quality of the wine in this fantastic region then read the views of wine expert Jeffrey Benson.
Zoom in and pan the map as some cantinas are close together. Click the link to find out more info or click on the images at the foot of the page.
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