The Italy Wine Project

Regions / Veneto

DOCStill huntingEasy

Bardolino DOC

IL PROGETTODOCBARDOLINOAAIT46045135Denominazione di Origine Controllata

No strip issued. I'm still hunting a bottle.

Valpolicella's lighter neighbor on the lake, made from the same grapes on glacial gravel and drunk young and cool. Pale ruby, low tannin, with sour cherry, raspberry, white pepper and a snap of acidity; it's closer to a cru Beaujolais than to anything else in the Veneto. Chiaretto, the pale pink version, is the zone's biggest success and one of Italy's best rosati: strawberry, citrus and a saline finish. Since 2018 three subzones (Montebaldo, La Rocca, Sommacampagna) can appear on labels.

Still hunting

I'm still looking for a bottle of this.

If you make Bardolino, import it, or know who does, the form takes two minutes and I reply to every one.

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Bottles I'm chasing

  • Guerrieri Rizzardi

    Bardolino Classico Tacchetto

    The estate's basic Bardolino from a single site, sour cherry and pepper, serve slightly chilled.

    $14 to $18Wine-Searcher
  • Le Fraghe

    Bardolino Chiaretto Ròdon

    Matilde Poggi's organic rosato, pale, dry and saline with strawberry and grapefruit; a critics' favorite.

    $16 to $20Wine-Searcher
  • Zeni

    Bardolino Classico

    Reliable, widely distributed and cheap; cranberry and cherry with soft tannin.

    $12 to $15Wine-Searcher