Soave Classico

Monte Tondo's entry Soave Classico is 100% Garganega, which the estate ties to the hill it is named after, at the foot of which Aldo Magnabosco bought his first 3 ha of Garganega in the early 1970s. The site's vineyards page describes the Monte Tondo hill as clay loam with calcareous stones (franco argilloso con scheletro calcareo), while the wine's tech sheet places its parcels in the Classico zone where soils run from volcanic to medium-deep calcareous. The US importer August Imports puts the vines halfway up the slope at about 120 m in a pocket of clay and limestone.

Yields are 10 t/ha on the tech sheet and 11 t/ha in the estate catalogue. Picking is by hand in the last ten days of September and the first ten of October (the catalogue says mid-September). The back label carries the Veganok logo and the SQNPI integrated-production (sustainability) mark; August Imports calls the farming organic but uncertified.

In the cellar the grapes are crushed and destemmed and the must is chilled to 10-12 C for 12-24 hours before pressing, then clarified and fermented in steel at 16-18 C. The wine stays on its fine lees, stirred back into suspension every 20 days, for about four months, with at least two months in bottle before release. August Imports gives three months in steel plus three in bottle. It also gives about 30,000 bottles a year. The tech sheet's analysis reads 2.1 g/l residual sugar and 5.7 g/l total acidity, against 2.9 g/l and 5.0 g/l on the August Imports sheet.

For 2024, Cristian Ridolfi, president of the Consorzio Tutela Vini Soave e Recioto di Soave, described the season mid-harvest (WineNews, 2 October 2024) as optimal for Garganega, with good bud fertility and water availability giving healthy fruit and a sound sugar-acid balance.