Bardolino

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The morainic hills on the eastern shore of Lake Garda are glacial in origin and form concentric hill ridges with variable soils that tend toward deep, gravelly profiles.
• North-facing hillsides are generally wooded, while south-, east-, and west-facing slopes, being more favourable, are planted with vines and olive groves.
• The climate of the Bardolino zone is shaped by the large body of water of Lake Garda, the Monte Baldo massif to the north, and the Adige river valley, resulting in a Mediterranean character with warm but never sultry summers and mild winters that allow the cultivation of the olive.
• The Bardolino production zone is divided into three historic sub-zones: the hinterland close to Monte Baldo (Valle di Caprino), the lake Garda shoreline with the hill La Rocca (Plaga Gardense), and the southern hill belt around Sommacampagna (Colli Morenici Meridionali).
• The Classica area around the commune of Bardolino, the zone of oldest tradition, lies closer to the lake and therefore displays distinctive climatic and environmental characteristics compared with the rest of the Bardolino appellation.

• The Bardolino production rules record that as early as the first years of the nineteenth century expert appraisers ('periti estimatori') distinguished three price sub-zones: Valle di Caprino, Plaga Gardense, and Colli Morenici Meridionali.
• The 'Relazione pel 1837 dell'osservatore agrario Bernardino Angelini' already described the harvest in the districts of Caprino, Bardolino, and Villafranca, which correspond to the three historic sub-zones.
• Pedological studies carried out in the 1930s identified, within the Bardolino appellation territory, the area known as Classica, situated closer to the lake.
• The Presidential Decree establishing the protected designation of origin 'Bardolino' was approved on 28 May 1968, and the Consorzio di tutela was established the following year.

• Bardolino is a brilliant ruby-red wine with fruity aromas of cherry, marasca cherry, strawberry, raspberry, redcurrant, and blackberry, together with spiced notes of cinnamon, clove, and black pepper.
• On the palate Bardolino is dry, soft, and spiced, with sensations of crunchy red fruit, balance, freshness, and a characteristic saline quality described by experts as a 'salted-cracker' note.

• The mild climate and thermal lake breezes near the shoreline favour good phenolic ripeness and the pronounced strawberry and raspberry fruit aromas found in these wines.
• The morainic soils, with their varied structure and relatively lean mineral composition, give the wines a distinctive sapidity, salinity, and a fresh, youthful character.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

Sottozone

• Bardolino La Rocca DOC (PDO)
• Bardolino Montebaldo DOC (PDO)
• Bardolino Sommacampagna DOC (PDO)

All appellations in Italy

Sources

• Specification (EUR-Lex, single document)
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-IT-A0436
• Official trade body site — Consorzio di Tutela Chiaretto e Bardolino