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2021 Bardolino “Le Fontane”

Corte Gardoni

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At Les Pallières this year we are going to try our hand at making a cask of Gigondas rosé, so Daniel Brunier came down to meet with me and Jean-Marie Peyraud at Domaine Tempier for a serious rosé session. Pick the brain of the master, you know? We began with the Tempier rosé vintages 2003, 2002, 2000, and 1999 while the two vintners talked rosé theory and vinification. Then Jean-Marie dug out a 1990. Hmm, fourteen years old, still good, better than good. Age a rosé? 
     When we got to my place for lunch I pulled a magnum of 1983 Tempier rosé out of my cellar. Spectacular! Believe it or not, it is complex, fascinating, and delicious at 21. It is not old. It is fine with being 21. In this brochure about seven years ago I wrote about draining an old Tempier rosé with Richard Olney, Lulu, and Jean-Marie. It was one of Lucien’s rosés, 1953. We inhaled it. 
    Then to table, where I blew their minds like I knew I would with this amazing Bardolino: Red wine, now. The rosé story was just an opener, an intro. This Bardolino stunned them, folks, and they didn’t even know how low the price is. A luscious red, it is simply overflowing with good things. My guests found some cherries and berries, of course, liked the harmony, the this and the that, but the message is: try one, then come back for cases. 
     It also has, buried in its abundant, dazzling fruit, a tinge of the typical Italian bitterness, and that, I swear, really does the trick at table, even with, especially with, any recipe using tomatoes, like the zucchini/tomato gratin I served them. A good marriage, we all agreed. –September 2004

Kermit Lynch

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Technical Information
Wine Type: red
Vintage: 2021
Bottle Size: 750mL
Blend: 60% Corvina, 30% Rondinella, 10% Other
Appellation: Bardolino
Country: Italy
Region: Veneto
Producer: Corte Gardoni
Winemaker: Piccoli family
Soil: Moraine
Aging: Several months of aging in stainless steel before bottling
Farming: Sustainable
Alcohol: 12%

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About The Region

Veneto

map of Veneto

Italy’s most prolific wine region by volume, the Veneto is the source of some of the country’s most notorious plonk: you’ll find oceans of insipid Pinot Grigo, thin Bardolino, and, of course, the ubiquitous Prosecco. And yet, the Veneto produces the highest proportion of DOC wine of any Italian region: home to prestigious appellations like Valpolicella, Amarone, and Soave, it is capable of excelling in all three colors, with equally great potential in the bubbly and dessert departments.

With almost 200,000 acres planted, the Veneto has a wealth of terroirs split between the Po Valley and the foothills of the Alps. While the rich soils of the flatlands are conducive to mechanization, high yields, and mass production of bulk wine, the areas to the north offer a fresher climate and a diversity of poor soil types, ideal for food-friendly wines that show a sense of place. Whether it’s a charming Prosecco Superiore from the Glera grape, a stony Soave or Gambellara from Garganega, or a Corvina-based red in any style, the Veneto’s indigenous grape varieties show real character when worked via traditional production methods.

Since his first visit in 1979, Kermit has regularly returned to the Veneto to enjoy its richness of fine wines and local cuisine. Our collaboration with Corte Gardoni, our longest-running Italian import, is a testament to this. The proximity of beautiful cities like Verona and Venice, with their deep culinary heritage, certainly doesn’t hurt, either.

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Kermit inspecting wine barrels

For the wines that I buy I insist that the winemaker leave them whole, intact. I go into the cellars now and select specific barrels or cuvées, and I request that they be bottled without stripping them with filters or other devices. This means that many of our wines will arrive with a smudge of sediment and will throw a more important deposit as time goes by, It also means the wine will taste better.

Discount Eligible $19.00
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