Italian Wine Guide: Learn More About the Veneto Wine Region

Veneto is located in the northeastern corner of Italy, bordered by the Alps to the north, and the Adriatic Sea to the east. It spans the fertile Piave and Adige river plains, and includes the areas surrounding Lake Garda.

As the eighth-largest region in Italy, Veneto is home to a staggering number of individual appellations: 28 DOCs, 14 DOCGs, and an increasing number of IGTs (Indicazione Geografica Tipica).

• Verona. The famous city of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers has a lot more than warring fictional families to offer: It’s home to Valpolicella, Bardolino, and Soave, three of Veneto’s most celebrated subregions producing the wines the area is best known for worldwide, with 5 DOCGs and 14 DOCs to its name.
• Valpolicella. If Veneto is synonymous with Amarone—a rich red wine made from partially dried Corvina and Rondinella grapes—it’s all thanks to the vineyards and winemakers of Valpolicella (and its subregion Valpantena), a 95-square mile province of Verona. The most notable appellations include Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG (Amarone taken one step further, into dessert wine territory), and Ripasso Valpolicella DOC (a blend of Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara, passed over the leftover lees and skins from the Amarone winemaking process).
• Bardolino. Bardolino, on the shores of Lake Garda, is known for its approachable, lighter-bodied, Beaujolais-style wines with bright notes of sour cherry, made from blends of Corvina and Rondinella grapes. The Bardolino Superiore DOCG and the Bardolino DOC now allow 20% of the blend to include other varieties, like Barbera, Merlot, or Sangiovese.
• Soave. The medieval village of Soave is sparkling and white wine territory. It relies almost entirely on Garganega, a grape native to the area, Chardonnay, and Trebbiano di Soave (Verdicchio). In the Soave area, grapes are used to produce dry, still wines with refreshing acidity; the Recioto di Soave DOCG specializes in still, sweet white wines featuring the same blend, and the Soave Superiore DOCG produces two subclassifications: Superiore (aged for a minimum of six months) and Riserva (aged for a minimum of one year). Soave spumante is a foamy iteration equal to Prosecco in popularity.
• Lugana. Lugana is a small region on the border of Lombardy–Veneto border at the southern tip of Lake Garda, specializing in white wines made from Turbiana grapes (Trebbiano di Lugana) and a blush-pink to deep red rosé wine called chiaretto, made from Groppello, Marzemino, Sangiovese and Barbera.
• Piave/Piave Malanotte. As the largest viticultural zone in Veneto, Piave is foremost a champion of Raboso Piave (also called Friularo)—a deeply colorful, temperamental red wine grape with aggressive tannins and high acidity—and the white Verduzzo grape.
• Vicenza. As one of the “three Vs” that make up the majority of Veneto’s wine production—Verona, Vicenza, and Venezia—Vicenza encompasses Gambellara (a subregion dominated by Garganega white wines), Monti Lessini (home to the indigenous Durella, a white wine grape used to make dry, tannic sparkling wines in the Charmat, or tank method), Breganze (a region producing red, white, and dessert wines using Friulano, Merlot, and Vespaiolo) and the hills of Colli Berici (an area thought to be an ancient seabed thanks to the levels of marine deposits and minerals in its soil, resulting in a portfolio with deeply complex terroir, split evenly between reds and white).
• Venezia (Venice). Though the famous waterways and canals of Venice might be the first thing people think of when they think Venice, the province and its surrounding towns and villages is also a prolific wine-producing region. It holds the largest DOC appellation within Veneto, meaning its portfolio of wines is as vast as the territory it includes; its reds are primarily blends with at least a 50% base of Merlot, and its whites are textbook examples of one of Italy’s signature white wine grapes, Pinot Grigio. It also produces rosato wine (rosé) from the Raboso grape, seen primarily throughout Piave.
• Treviso. Treviso is known best as the birthplace of Prosecco, is included under the greater Venezia DOC. Its wines have established iconic status for Glera, its principal grape with lots of acid and notes of white peach, through its individual Prosecco de Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG, Colli Asolani Prosecco DOCG, and Prosecco DOC appellations.

A number of grape varieties are grown throughout Veneto, producing many different kinds of wine. Though it is perhaps best known for specialty reds like Amarone and Bardolino, it is also the primary producer of white wines within the Tre Venezie regional collective—thanks to the massive success and demand for wines like Prosecco and Soave.

• Red wines in Veneto typically feature a grab-bag of red varietals like merlot, Rondinella, Molinara, Corvina, Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc, Barbera, Oseleta, and Rossignola, many of which are native to the area. They can be lighter in style, like Bardolino and Bardolino Superiore wine—made from Corvina and Rondinella on the shores of Lake Garda, or a bit more luscious: Veneto is particularly renowned for its production of Amarone (Italian for “the Great Bitter”), a highly sought-after rich, dry red wine
• White wines from Veneto are mostly a showcase for local varieties like Garganega and Glera, but most blends also utilize Trebbiano di Soave (Verdicchio), Pinot bianco, Pinot grigio, and Chardonnay to bring body and balance to the characteristically light, bright, and fruity wines made still, sparkling, and sweet.
• Sparkling wines, chiefly Prosecco, one of Veneto’s biggest wine exports. Prosecco in Veneto is made mostly with the Glera wine grape and carbonated using the Charmat method.
• Dessert wines like Torcolato from the Vincenza province are made from Vespaiolo grapes, while Moscato fior d'arancio, a sparkling dessert wine (called “spumante”), is made using Moscato grapes from a Mediterranean microclimatic zone in central Veneto called Colli Euganei, situated in the hills surrounding Padua.

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