Drink Up: Soave, So Good

 Soave is not a well-known wine varietal in the United States, but that may be changing soon. The name is pronounced So-Ah-Ve, it's a dry white wine from the Veneto region in northeast Italy, principally around the city of Verona, and if the Soave Consortium has its way you'll be drinking this much more in the coming months.

“The world is starting to embrace this complex yet easy-to-drink, food-friendly white wine,” said Aldo Lorenzoni, director of the Soave Consortium. “Enjoyed and highly regarded for centuries in Italy, we are eager to educate wine drinkers in America about the quality, elegance and romance of Soave wines.” So to that end, the company sent us two bottles— Si Soave DOC and Re Midas— to see what we thought.

To get some background on Soave DOC wines, we checked out Wikipedia, a source for all things random. It says this wine is often "vinified" in stainless steel and is designed to be drunk a year or two after production; Garganega is the principal grape variety. With the two bottles we tried, Si Soave DOC is a blend of 90% Garganega grapes and 10% Trebbiano, while Re Midas is 100% Garganega.

Si Soave DOC comes in the curvy bottle, which makes it both a conversation piece and difficult to balance in a normal wine rack. That said, when served ice cold it's dangerously refreshing; indeed, my date and I enjoyed our bottle on a dry, hot afternoon and finished it off in no time. There was more flavor than a Pinot Grigio—a wine often served at warm, daytime events, but which can often taste almost watery and flavorless. Si Soave offered more substance, yet it didn't hold the fruity tones of a Riesling. It's simply light, luscious, and delicious.

Re Midas possesses a richer, more golden color and as such it's named after the mythic King Midas, whose touch turned objects to gold. It's amazing how much brighter the flavors are without the 10% Trebbiano grapes found in the Si Soave. In this case there are some slight citrus hints that are mostly sensed when inhaling right before a taste. It has some minerality to it but doesn't hold the sometimes harsher metallic taste of a chardonnay. This is a wine for eating with a barbecue because the wine can stand up to the stronger flavors from the grill. But again, it's best when served very cold because the mouth just lights up with every sip.

Though the two wines are not found at every store, there are ways to get it. For more info on Si Soave visit www.sisoave.com and Re Midas at www.cantinasoaveusa.com.