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It’s a bright new era for Custoza
The first tranche of Custoza Riserva wines are entering the market, showcasing the exquisite quality the Verona denomination has to offer.
This year wines bearing the newly minted Custoza Riserva classification were released on the market for the first time since the quality tier was approved in 2019. Intended to demonstrate the elegance and evolutionary potential of these symbolic wines of Verona, the new classification is the culmination of a long period of technical research into the Custoza terroir.
According to the consorzio, there was a strong shared desire among producers in the region for the creation of the Riserva tier. Winemakers were happy to wait for the perfect moment, collectively choosing to hold off until 2024 to present the first tranche of Custoza Riserva wines. These precise expressions demonstrate the maturity of the denomination and its acceleration in quality.
Producers may only display Riserva on their labels if a wine has undergone a minimum of 12 months ageing and incorporates a blend of at least three of the four native varieties – Garganega, Bianca Fernanda(a local clone of Cortese), Trebbianello (a biotype of Tocai Friulano) and Trebbiano.
Custoza Riserva wines were first presented to the market at Vinitaly 2024 with a masterclass hosted by Marco Sabellico, curator of the esteemed food, wine and travel publication Guida Vini d’Italia of Gambero Rosso. More will be revealed throughout the coming months with a series of events aimed at the trade and the press. The key characteristics of Custoza Riserva wines are: elegance, freshness, gastronomic potential and the ability to improve over time, with expressions evolving to offer complex and fascinating notes.
Commitment and affection
“Producing a Custoza Riserva means feeling great affection and commitment for the Custoza denomination, because this implies working with the highest expectation, from the vineyard to the bottle. Deciding to invest in this project is an opportunity for a producer to affirm their own style and vision of the territory and the grapes,” says Roberta Bricolo, president of the Custoza Consorzio.
“Custoza Riserva wines go beyond what is already known about the denomination and demonstrates that our wines can stand the test of time.”
Bricolo adds that through the inclusion of Custoza Riserva on the label “we move the focus away from the product towards the producer who makes the wine, who pours his work and emotions into it.”
Custoza Riserva wines, together with Custoza Superiore wines (which must be aged for five months before release), are the most premium expressions of the Custoza denomination, which was created in 1971, and sits snugly between Verona and Lake Garda. The wine region encompasses around 1,400 hectares of vineyards across the municipalities of Sommacampagna, Villafranca di Verona, Valeggio sul Mincio, Peschiera del Garda, Lazise, Castelnuovo del Garda, Pastrengo, Bussolengo and Sona.
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