Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Giudecca, Lido & the Southern Islands
Fall film festivals, summer beach clubbing
and year-round happy hours.
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Murano, Burano & the Northern Islands
A quiet drink with a local crowd.
DOC Versus IGT
In Italy, the official DOC
(denominazione d'origine controllata)
and elite DOCG (DOC
garantita
- guaranteed) designations are usually assurances of top-notch vino, and the
Veneto has more DOCG- designated wines than any other Italian region besides Pied-
mont. Taste the DOCG wines that put the Veneto on the world wine-tasting map at select
wineries in
Soave
(Soave Superiore and Recioto di Soave),
Conegliano
(prosecco)
, and
Valpolicella
(Amarone).
But successful as its wines are, the Veneto also bucks the DOC/DOCG system. Many
small-production Veneto wineries can't be bothered with such external validation, because
they already sell out to Venetian
osterie
and
enoteche
. Some top Veneto producers prefer
the IGT designation, which guarantees grapes typical of the region but leaves winemakers
room to experiment with non-traditional blends and methods (such as natural-yeast fer-
mentation).
Once you get a taste for local wines, don't miss Verona's annual
Vinitaly
(
Click here
)
in March or April, Italy's largest wine expo, featuring 80,000 wines, including Veneto's
finest IGTs and DOCGs.
DRINKING COMES NATURALLY HERE
Detour through the Veneto's glorious wine country for a day, and you'll see why the region is setting Italy's
trend for natural-process wines - an umbrella term describing wines made with organic, biodynamic, natural-
fermentation and other unconventional methods. With speciality grapes thriving on the Veneto's unspoilt vol-
canic hills, who needs pesticides, additives or industrial processing? Instead, growing numbers of Veneto
vintners are doing what comes naturally, and experimenting with low-intervention, natural-process approaches.
Taste their results for yourself at
ViniVeri
(
www.viniveri.net
), the natural-process wine showcase held in Ver-
ona every April as an alternative to major label-focused Vinitaly. Between ViniVeri tastings, you can sample
excellent selections of natural-process wines at
Antica Adelaide
(
Click here
),
Al Prosecco
(
Click here
) and
Enoteca Mascareta
(above).
Salute
- here's to your health, and the Veneto's, too.
