Italy: Azienda Agricola Monte del Frà - Bardolino 2024, Veneto (SQNPI-certified)

Grape varieties: Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara. 12.5% alcohol. Grown on calcareous, clayey, gravelly, sandy soils in vineyards just to the south east of Lake Garda. 

Drink at around 14°C to accentuate its brightness of fruit and fragrance. It may be too warm if at room temperature. Maybe bung in the fridge for a few minutes!

An 'azienda agricola' is an agricultural estate - in wine, it refers to a producer that grows grapes and makes wine only from their own grapes, meaning they are fully in control of quality from vine to bottle. 

When you click on this producer's website, they say "one of the best Italian wineries in Veneto" - quite a bold statement given the vast size of this northeastern Italian region but given the consistent quality I've seen from them, this does hold true. 

Owned and run by the Bonomo family since 1958, the estate was originally founded as a monastery a few hundred years prior. It today encompasses 137 hectares/338 acres, while the family rent another 68 hectares/168 acres, spread across the Custoza, Valpolicella, Lugana, and Bardolino areas to the north and west of Verona.

Sustainability at Monte del Frà: they are SQNPI-certified, the Italian certificate for integrated farming, which involves green manure, sexual confusion, micro-drip irrigation, and zero chemical weeding. As well as local workforces and local raw materials, working with recycled paper, sustainable glass, and a circular use of energy and water resources. The extensive winery renovation and expansion project, which will be completed in the next few years, aims to achieve maximum production sustainability.

Bardolino - a town as well as a wine DOC - runs up Lake Garda's eastern side, almost half way up the lake. Monte del Frà's winery is roughly halfway between Verona (18km to the east) and Lake Garda (17km to the west) and the fruit for this wine is sourced nearby.

Bardolino's red is famously delicately light, fruit-driven, and fragrant.

Food Pairing:

Monte del Frà advise to drink this with "appetisers, summer meals, grilled fish, cold cuts, tapas, pasta".

Another light, low alcohol, refreshing, fruit-driven red I like to have at hand to go with anything Italian at home; just great with tomato-based dishes, burrata, pizza, and full-flavoured fish. A great food wine! 

What the critics say:

“Fragrant and playful on the nose, it alternates notes of cherries, raspberries, currants, lemon peel, and mixed flowers. Medium-bodied, juicy, and dynamic on the palate, it finishes lively and bright. Drink now” - Raffaele Vecchione, WinesCritic.com

90 points: "Outstanding", James Suckling.com

92 points: Luca Maroni.it