Grape and Wine Festival Celebrates Bardolino’s Quality and Market Growth
Starting today (6 pm at Barchessa Rambaldi, tasting of the award-winning wines) and lasting until Monday, four days of notable appeal with the “Grape and Wine Festival,” now in its 71st edition. The grapes that produce Bardolino wine, with a sugar content higher than average this year, and an estimated yield approximately 10/15 percent lower than the 1999 harvest.
This coincidence of results aligns with the new directives of the European Union, increasingly aimed at reducing production while promoting higher-quality wines. The amount of grape certified per hectare for the production of DOC “Bardolino” wine, obtained in the 2000 harvest, must not exceed, according to the Regional Council, 117 quintals, equivalent to 81.90 hectoliters per hectare, sufficient to meet the demand for this wine during the current marketing campaign.
Grape quantities and market
The remaining grape quantities, up to the maximum permitted production of 156 quintals per hectare, must be allocated exclusively to the production of table wine, with or without typical geographic indication. This decision responds to the request submitted by the Protection Consortium and aims to ensure profitable commercialization of the product, maintaining prices and ensuring market stability for DOC Bardolino, and consequently providing fair income to operators across the supply chain.
The commercial value of Bardolino today is in fact double that of a typical table red wine, with 65 percent of production exported, especially appreciated in Germany, England, United States, and France.
Promotional initiatives and projects
“The success of our presentations in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Munich,” reports Giuseppe degli Albertini, president of the Protection Consortium, “seems to indicate a return to the fragrances of grapes, floral, fruity, and spicy aromas.”
There has been renewed interest in native grape varieties and in flavorful wines, to drink and not just to taste, such as Bardolino, where gentle tannins derive from the grapes rather than from wood contact. Along this line, a pilot project has been initiated to optimize viticulture through vineyard renewal, using clones of Corvina and Rondinella that are less productive and by increasing vine density.
Beyond the Wine Festivals, which feature three annual events (Bardolino Chiaretto in June; Grape and Wine Festival on the first Sunday of October; and Bardolino Novello on the first weekend of October), the “Wine Road” connects 67 wineries selling directly three million bottles, with some facilities welcoming up to 15,000 visitors annually.
Alvaro Joppi