Vineyards along Lake Garda in northern Italy
Foto Sfondo
Great Lakes
The Five Great Lakes of northern Italy, like the five Great Lakes of the United States, were similarly carved out by a unifying set of glacial events. From west to east these Italian Great Lakes are named Maggiore, Lugano (much of it in Switzerland), Como, Iseo and Garda. The easternmost—GardaAlong An Italian Great Lak—is Italy’s largest lake and renowned for lake sports, Roman ruins, medieval villages, stunning vistas and wine.
The region surrounding Lake Garda is climatically odd; although located at the foot of the chilly Alps, much of it is replete with Mediterranean vegetation including olive and lemon trees. Lake waters mitigate extremes of summer and winter temperatures, and the surrounding land is constantly raked by mountain and valley winds.
Steep peaks poke down into deep glacial lakes where sailboats are ample, vacation homes plenty and visitors flock to sunny lakeside locales for magnificent vistas, healthy food and crisp wines.
Regarding the wine industry around Lake Garda (within the Garda Denominazione di Origine Controllata [DOC] wine appellation), two key questions that now face producers are—which type of wines are optimal to produce, and which wine identity resonates best with consumers?
Enjoying wine in the evening along Lake Garda, Italy
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Garda DOC
Along southern Lake Garda, lands to the east are part of Italy’s Veneto region, while lands to the south and west fall within the Lombardy region. These territories of Da Vinci and Dante Alighieri have also produced wines for Celts, Etruscans, Greeks and Romans.
The Garda DOC appellation encompasses 10 historically prominently wine designations—including Lugana, Valpolicella, Bardolino and Soave. Formed in 1996, the appellation is now guided by the Garda DOC consortium (consorzio) founded in 2016. This consortium includes 250 members that produce wines from almost 77,000 acres [31,100 hectares] of vineyards, or an aggregate area similar in size to the city of Orlando, Florida, or somewhat larger than the Italian city of Genoa.
The consortium now seeks a coherent identity to message a unique character for its varied wines and for tightening its branding strategies.
Summertime wine on a boat on Lake Garda, Italy
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Production Facts
Eight main grape varieties dominate Garda DOC wines. These are, for whites: Garganega, Trebbiano (two types—di Soave and di Lugana), Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, while for reds they are: Corvina, Marzemino, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Other local grapes include Erbamat (white) and Groppello (red).
Although Garda DOC includes a hefty quantity of international grape varieties such as Chardonnay and Merlot, the highest percentage variety grown (43% in 2023) is the white Garganega.
Most wines in the appellation (80%) are entry level, priced at less than three Euros a bottle, whereas premium and super-premium wines priced at six Euros a bottle and upward constitute 7.9% of sales. About half of all wine sales are international (including to Germany, U.S., U.K. Belgium) and half are within Italy.
Sparkling wine from Perla Del Garda, Garda DOC
Tom Mullen
Unifying Identity
Within the Garda DOC patterns of wine production dramatically shifted during the past seven years. The number of grape producers increased by 20% while the number of grapes produced increased by 46%. More wine is also now being bottled within the appellation—having increased by 246% in the last six years to a total of 18.6 million bottles annually.
This sudden burgeoning output was associated with eye-opening shifts in types of wine produced. Since 2016, sparkling wines decreased by half—from 34% to about 13.5% of production, while reds are less than a quarter of what they were, having slipped from 32% to 7%. Meanwhile, production of white wines has more than doubled.
Amid such rapid changes, questions loom regarding which direction wine production and marketing should aim for. To help address uncertainties, the Garda DOC consortium engaged universities from Verona, Milan and Padua to study market patterns—including strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.
Paolo Firini is President of the Garda DOC Consortium. He is a tall, enthusiastic and affable man who recently spoke at the shoreline town of Lazise along Lake Garda’s southeastern shore. Consortium members had gathered there to meet researchers who recently surveyed the appellation.
Paolo Fiorino of Garda DOC Consortium speaks
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“This appellation is extraordinary, with a great spirit of collaboration and sharing among producers. We know our strengths include heterogeneity; we now need to learn our weaknesses, but not focus on inadequacies,” Fiorini urged.
During that same gathering, Angelo Zago from the Department of Economic Sciences at the University of Padua mentioned how Lake Garda is renowned for having a “good price quality relationship among the public. This is a reputable tourist area. It’s a very well managed appellation that can develop added value at different price segments. However, consumers find it difficult to define the appellation, and then interact with it.”
During this same meeting, wine business consultant Fabio Piccoli explained that global wine sales are currently in complex flux (with red wine sales generally decreasing). He mentioned that three specific elements can help Garda DOC move forward on an economically sound footing. These are innovation—welcoming new trends; adaptation—exploiting these trends, and diversification to allow for better competitive advantage.
These voices contained common threads: consortium members and advisors realize that Garda DOC has huge advantages, that members are curious and open minded about better exploiting their unique features, and that the consortium wants better to communicate its identity to Italy, as well as to the world.
Shore of Lake Garda, Italy
Martina dall’Oglio
Future Focus?
Will current wine production trends within Garda DOC align with long-term advantage? Superficially at least, it appears so. Consider the following inputs from two individuals who studied the situation.
Having been involved with a recent study of Garda DOC strengths and opportunities, Eugenio Pomarici of the Center for Research in Viticulture and Oenology of Padua addressed the competitive situation for Garda DOC wines. He and associates interviewed a wide range of individuals with diverse roles inside the appellation—including in management, production, distribution and bottling. He revealed that most stakeholders identified two grape varieties to focus on: Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio.
This aligns with current realities. Valentina di Chiara, a PhD Student from the University of Padua explained that six cooperatives within the appellation (of which five also include bottling lines) now produce 76% of all Garda DOC wines, and that four principal categories of white wines produced within the appellation are Chardonnay, Garganega/Pinot Grigio, Pinot Grigio and white ‘frizzante,’ or semi-sparkling wines. She mentioned there is a positive trend among consumers to seek white wines that are ‘fresh.’
(The Garda DOC consortium is already hitching itself to the image of Lake Garda— including sailing. This may be to better embrace a concept of freshness—think wild, invigorating winds.)
Sailing along Lake Garda in northern Italy
Garda DOC
Wine Value
Which white wines have best values within Garda DOC? I used my own proprietary Vino Value algorithm to compare personal qualitative ‘scores’ of a very limited number of sparkling and non-sparkling Garda DOC white wines against objective retail prices per bottle (sold at cellars). This showed that over 80% of those ranked top for value (‘superlative’ and ‘excellent’) were sparkling wines; most of these (not all) were made using the classical method (which includes secondary fermentation).
These results empirically correlate with tasting a small range of white wines—dry and sparkling. Many Garda DOC sparkling wines are of great quality and at stellar value. [See this associated article about Garda DOC wines for tasting notes, scorings and value evaluations.]
Town of Lazise along southern Lake Garda in Italy
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Goal
Paolo Fiorini summarized recent efforts to survey advantages of Garda DOC.
“Our goal is to etch the identity of our exceptional varietal and sparkling wines in people’s minds, wines that are intertwines with our region, with its unique geographical and climatic characteristics that make it … one of the most popular tourist destinations nationally and internationally.”
Garda is no longer a ‘great’ lake because of its size, but also because of attractions. These include a range of terrain as well as wine types. Diversity can be a strength, especially after production and marketing elements are analyzed for potential before being focused on for excellence. By deciding to take these actions, Garda DOC is forging forward in an intelligent direction that is also un vero lavoro d’amore—a true labor of love.
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