Soave Superiore is the DOCG title given to Soave wines from the appellation's highest-quality tier. Soave is arguably the most famous white-wine title in Italy. Its wines are made from Garganega grapes grown around the town of Soave, just east of Verona in north-eastern Italy. A dry, crisp, fruity white wine, Soave's naturally refreshing appeal led it to phenomenal popularity in the second half of the 20th century.
Many millions of liters of Soave wine are produced every year, creating the need for defined quality levels. In 2002, Veneto wine authorities introduced the Soave Superiore title as a complement to the standard DOC-level Soave title.
The idea behind this new DOCG title was to bring greater clarity to Soave's wine labels, and to improve consumer information. However, the situation actually ended up becoming more complex, as the authorities attempted to pacify both the bulk Soave producers and those seeking distinction for their higher-quality wines. It might be argued that this decision was made in the producers' interest rather than the consumers'; there was, and still is, considerable economic weight behind the production of Soave DOC wines.
Rather than use the existing DOC boundaries, the authorities mapped the new DOCG boundaries onto those already used by the sweet Recioto di Soave title. In effect this erased the Soave DOC's neatly mapped-out classico and superiore zoning, leaving a gap between the old (DOC) classico zone and the new (DOCG) one. The solution was to create Soave Colli Scaligieri Superiore, a gap-filler title covering DOCG-quality wines from the original DOC classico zone.
For details on the terroir and wine styles made in Soave, please see Soave.
