Bardolino is an Italian

Italian wine

Italian wine is wine produced in Italy, a country which is home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. Italy is the world's largest wine producer, responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine production in 2005. Italian wine is exported largely around the world and has...

 red wine produced along the chain of morainic hills in the province of Verona

Province of Verona

The Province of Verona is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Verona.-Overview:The province has an area of 3,109 km², and a total population of 912,981...

 to the east of Lake Garda

Lake Garda

Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It is located in Northern Italy, about half-way between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age...

. It takes its name from the town Bardolino

Bardolino

Bardolino is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 130 km west of Venice and about 25 km northwest of Verona....

 on the shores of Lake Garda

Lake Garda

Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It is located in Northern Italy, about half-way between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age...

 and was awarded Denominazione di origine controllata

Denominazione di Origine Controllata

Denominazione di origine controllata is a quality assurance label for food products, especially wines and various formaggi . It is modelled after the French AOC...

(DOC) status in 1968. The blend of grapes used to produce the wine includes Corvina

Corvina

Corvina is an Italian wine grape variety that is sometimes also referred to as Corvina Veronese or Cruina or it is mainly known in Europe as"Cassabria". It is mainly grown in the Veneto region of northeast Italy. Corvina is used with several other grapes to create the light red regional wines...

, Rondinella

Rondinella

Rondinella is an Italian wine grape mainly grown in the Veneto region of Italy and used in wines such as Valpolicella and Bardolino. It is often blended Corvina, whom DNA evidence has shown is a parent variety, and Molinara. The grape has rather neutral flavors but is favored by growers due to its...

 and Molinara

Molinara (grape)

Molinara is a red Italian wine grape grown primarily in the Veneto region of north eastern Italy. It adds acidity to the blends Valpolicella and Bardolino made with Corvina and Rondinella. The wine's high propensity for oxidation, coupled with its low color extract, has caused a decline in favor...

. Up to 15% of the blend may include Rossignola, Barbera

Barbera

Barbera is a red Italian wine grape variety that, as of 2000, was the third most-planted red grape variety in Italy . It produces good yields and is known for deep color, low tannins and high levels of acid...

, Sangiovese

Sangiovese

Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety whose name derives from the Latin sanguis Jovis, "the blood of Jove"...

 and/or Garganega

Garganega

Garganega is a variety of white Italian wine grape widely grown in the Veneto region of North East Italy, particularly in the provinces of Verona and Vicenza. It is Italy's 6th most widely planted white grape...

.

Wine region

Located on the south eastern shores of Lake Garda, the classico zone surrounds the towns of Bardolino, Affi

Affi

Affi is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 120 km west of Venice and about 20 km northwest of Verona.The municipality of Affi is divided into the frazioni of Affi, Incaffi and Caorsa...

, Cavaion, Costermano

Costermano

Costermano is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 120 km west of Venice and about 25 km northwest of Verona....

, Garda

Garda

Garda may refer to:* An Garda Síochána, the national police of the Republic of Ireland* Lake Garda, a lake in northern Italy.* Garda , a commune on the shores of the Italian Lake Garda in the province of Verona....

 and Lazise

Lazise

Lazise is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 120 km west of Venice and about 20 km northwest of Verona. It is situated on the eastern shore of Lake Garda...

. Beyond the classico zone to the south are flat, fertile plains where Bardoline wine is produced from high grape yield

Yield (wine)

In viticulture, the yield is a measure of the amount of grapes or wine that is produced per unit surface of vineyard, and is therefore a type of crop yield...

s. About 45% of the production comes from the Bardolino Classico region, but unlike its neighboring Veneto DOCs - Soave

Soave (wine)

Soave is a dry white Italian wine from the Veneto region in northeast Italy, principally around the city of Verona. Within the Soave region are both a Denominazione di Origine Controllata zone and a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita designation known as Soave Superiore with both...

 and Valpolicella

Valpolicella

Valpolicella is a viticultural zone of the province of Verona, Italy, east of Lake Garda. The hilly agricultural and marble-quarrying region of small holdings north of the Adige is famous for wine production. Valpolicella ranks just after Chianti in total Italian Denominazione di Origine...

 - there does not seem to be much terroir

Terroir

Terroir comes from the word terre "land". It was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular varieties...

driven quality difference between the wine produced in the classico region and that from the greater DOC zone.

Grapes and wine

The three main grapes used to produce Bardolino are also used to produce Valpolicella but the two wines are quite different. This is partly because Bardolino generally contains less Corvina which adds body and structure and more Rondinella which has a relatively neutral flavor profile. Yields in Bardolino also tend to be higher than the 13 ton

Ton

The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...

s per hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 officially prescribed in DOC regulations.

Other versions of Bardolino include a Superiore has at least 1 extra percent of alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

 and must be aged at least a year before being released, a rosé

Rosé

A rosé is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.- Production techniques :There are three major ways to produce rosé...

known as Bardolino Chiaretto, a lightly sparkling frizzante and a novello. The Bardolino novello was first produced in the late 1980s in a style that mimics the French wine

French wine

French wine is produced in several regions throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France has the world's second-largest total vineyard area, behind Spain, and is in the position of being the world's largest wine producer...

 Beaujolais nouveau

Beaujolais nouveau

Beaujolais nouveau is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. It is the most popular vin de primeur, fermented for just a few weeks before being released for sale on the third Thursday of November...

.