Pra "Otto - 40th Anniversary" 2023 Soave Classico

750ml bottle

12% abv

Bright, medium-weight, aromas & flavors of flowers, almonds, green apple, and citrus.

The commercial reputation of Soave used to be mediocre, but even the base wine from Prà explodes that idea completely. This is bright, dangerously delicious, mid-weight white wine, with aromas and flavors of green apple, flowers, almond, and citrus; fantastic as an aperitif but also perfect with all sorts of seafood, roast chicken, and pasta dishes. The wine was named after Graziano’s dog Otto.

The best wines grown near the little town of Soave, just east of Verona, are some of Italy’s most interesting: vivid, fresh, flavorful, and capable of aging in the bottle. They are made of indigenous grape varieties grown in volcanic soils (this last being very rare in northern Italy). There are very few producers, however, at this peak of quality; Graziano Prà is one of them. He makes a range of Soaves, from the Otto, a brisk, distinctive wine that is a great introduction to the appellation, to the Staforte, Monte Grande and Colle Sant’Antonio bottlings, all different and distinctive. Graziano Prà is one of Italy’s best white wine producers.

Garganega is a white grape variety thought to be native to northern Italy and chiefly cultivated in the hills around the town of Soave, just east of Verona. (It is also grown in Sicily under the name Grecanico Dorato.) When grown for moderate yield it makes wines that have aromas and flavors of almonds, flowers, apple, and citrus, and very fresh acidity. It also makes excellent dried-grape dessert wines, amongst the best in Italy. The other quality grape used for the production of Soave is Trebbiano di Soave, which is a synonym for Verdicchio (another excellent variety, in other words, no relation to Trebbiano Toscano); Prà only uses Trebbiano di Soave in their Monte Grande (30%), all the other wines are entirely made of Garganega.