Bardolino, an autonomous Doc for the Chiaretto

“Separation in the house” for two of the flag wines of Lake Garda: Chiaretto di Bardolino becomes an autonomous Doc, detaching itself from the red Bardolino which in turn returns to its origins by introducing into three historical sub-zones, namely La Rocca, Montebaldo and Sommacampagna.
This is the decision reached by the assembly of producers associated with the Consortium, called to vote on the proposal of President Franco Cristoforetti. The new Doc (along with the aforementioned sub-zones) will be operational from the 2018 harvest: the Chiaretto di Bardolino and the “basic” Bardolino will have made a maximum of 120 quintals per hectare, compared to the current 130, while for the three subdivisions of Bardolino it will be to 100 quintals per hectare. The wines of the three sub-regions will be on the market not before September of the year following the harvest. The rules also stipulate that only “fresh” grapes should be used. For all wines of docs Bardolino and Chiaretto di Bardolino, the allowed amount of grapes Corvina Veronese rises to 95% from the current 80%.
“With the birth of this new Doc, the strategic plan drawn up by the journalist Angelo Peretti approved by the Consortium’s Board of Directors in the summer of 2008 is completed ” said President Cristoforetti. It was then that the split of the identity path of Chiaretto and Bardolino began, which is now also fulfilled in the identification for our reds of those three sub-zones that had already been described in detail by Giovanni Battista Perez at the end of the nineteenth century, when the best wines in the area were exported to Switzerland to be served together with Burgundy and Beaujolais. “