L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 36 L'Italo-Americano Soave: Wines You Can Hear Y ou can hear the wines of Soave. Just listen to them. An acoustic bass, brass horns, Latin drums, a well-tuned piano, finding a jazzy groove. Garganega vines, principal to Soave, undertake their musical training early. While growing happily in Soave's volcanic and limestone soil, they receive the voice of Soave and begin life by learning melody first. While in Soave, I saw many experts try to explain the particu- lar taste of these wines. But the wines resisted. They prefer to be heard. It's not such a stretch to imagine: science has shown that plants are able to perceive sounds and specific frequencies. One Italian grape grower plays Mozart into a section of his vineyard. The plants in that section have tested to be more robust and exhibit greater sugar content. A Canadian engineer exposed a wheat crop to a J.S. Bach violin sonata. A 66% increase in yield. Shouldn't we expect vines to be good players, too? If you want to understand jazz, you should listen to Miles Davis. But, if you want to understand the white wines of Italy, you should listen to Soave. In his autobio- graphy, jazz great Duke Ellington wrote "I am the world's greatest listener." He would have had a great capacity to understand Soave wines. It's all about hearing them. But, you don't need to be a great composer to understand what these Soave wines are saying. Their magic is accessible to anyone who will listen. Many wine writers would find what I am saying here to be non- sense. They would tell you that Soave's white wines are all about things like macro-porosity of soil or distinctive chemical com- pounds, attempting to explain Soave wines with scientific fac- tors and terms. But that is like explaining human beings as being only bones and flesh. There is more to it than that. Don't make the mistake of thinking the greatness of Soave wine is random. Its magic follows a deeply internal cosmic logic that saw fit to bring together elemental fire, water, and earth. Any good music dictionary will tell you that rhythm is felt as repeating pat- terns in time. From the volcanoes and sea beds whose successive eruptions and sediments formed the volcanic limestone soils of Soave, Garganega vines catch the rhythm, sucking up the sound force of primordial power remem- bered by the geologic timescale. Literature is full of enchanted forests, places where things outsi- de of normal human experience can happen. In Soave, grape vines draw in the enchantments of past medieval kings, age-old palaces and churches, ancient stone walls that zigzag the region, unrecorded battles and fanfares. They swal- low the devotions of farmers who have worked their fields sustained by the broth of hard times and poverty. It's these things which give Soave wine its true richness of flavor. To develop their feel for har- mony, Garganega vines take a les- son from the compatible interplay of Soave terrain, climate, vine and man. In their wines, vines resolve the consonance and dissonance, tension and release, they expe- rienced in the natural environ- ment. Each individual vine is given a unique musical score to play, complete with dynamic levels and grace notes, a score written by specific growing con- ditions. Orchestra players all tune to the same musical note, ideally a note from one designated player. In Soave, the designated player is mother earth. In an article written by The Guardian (How to Memorize a Symphony), it's noted that a musician's ability to remember vast quantities of notes is one of the great wonders of the human mind. Similarly, that Garganega vines can remember the great wonders of their natural environ- ment, and communicate those to us in their wines, is surely one of Soave's great wonders. So, perhaps, let us try to understand the miracle of Soave by walking a different path, kee- ping our minds focused between the wondrous and the poetic. Therefore, it is to that end, and out of respect for these great wines, that I have written this article free of technical wine jar- gon. I trust the wines, and what they let me hear, more than facts I read in books. Listening to the wines can tell me a different story. Disarmingly simple advice: just listen. Prepare to grasp the magic of Soave wines by being ready to make the jump from rea- der to listener. But, don't take it from me. The wines will tell you. You can hear for yourself. Tasting note: Filippi Soave DOC Colli Scagliere Vigne della Bra Pure, massively expressive 100% old vine Garganega, aged 18 months on the lees. Persistent notes of white flowers, yellow peaches, savory herbs, almonds. Richly textured in the mouth, and satisfying grace notes of citrus peel and saline on the finish. In Soave, grape vines draw in the enchantments of past medieval kings, age-old palaces and churches, ancient stone walls that zigzag the region, unrecorded battles and fanfares. © Adina Nani | Dreamstime WINE NEWS TRENDS PROFILES JOEL MACK THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 Soave is one of the world's most food friendly wines. It is an ideal white wine for pairing with both simple and more complex dishes

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