Ca’ Rugate Monte Alto Soave Classico 2023
£20.75
The wine
An intense and aromatic bouquet of wild flowers, ripe fruit and an elegant hint of almond leads to a beautifully textured and richly fruited palate. The top Soave in the range, from the oldest vines on the volcanic slopes.
Monte Alto is the highest of the family's Soave parcels, and altitude in a warm region means slower ripening and better-preserved acidity. Part of the wine is fermented in wood and it is aged on its lees, which builds a creamy texture around Garganega's citrus and almond fruit. A Soave with the structure to age several years, which few people expect.
The producer
Ca’ Rugate
View all Ca’ Rugate winesThe Tessari family have handed this business down since the early 1900s, renaming it Ca' Rugate in 1986 after the volcanic hills where the vineyards sit. Michele, of the fourth generation, has brought considerable energy: a technologically advanced new cellar, and expansion into Valpolicella with vineyards in the hills of Montecchia di Crosara. The estate now runs to 90 hectares.
The volcanic soil is the thread running through everything. Soave sits on the remains of ancient eruptions, and the black basalt beneath the Classico zone gives Garganega a mineral, smoky character that the sandier valley floor cannot match. Garganega is a much-maligned grape, largely because Soave was made in enormous quantity and indifferent quality through the second half of the twentieth century, and estates like this one have spent decades repairing the damage.
In Valpolicella the family work the full range of styles, from fresh red through Ripasso to Amarone, and the two sweet Recioto wines are made in the manner both appellations used long before their dry versions existed. Ca' Rugate has taken Gambero Rosso's Tre Bicchieri many times over.
