A Should

After 50 years, Pieropan's Calvarino Soave is as on point as ever

One evening during this spring's Vinitaly fair in Verona, I met avant-garde Mount Etna winemaker Frank Cornelissen for an evening glass or two.

We sat at a table with strangers under the ancient portico of the vintage, divey Osteria Sottoriva. At one point, Cornelissen proposed a blind-tasting of a white wine he had selected. From the tall, slender bottle covered in aluminum foil poured a deep-gold wine that rolled over the palate with mineral and honey notes.

After I and our tablemates completely failed to pinpoint the wine's origins—Alsace? Friuli? Slovenia?—the bottle was revealed as coming from about 15 miles from where we sat: the Leonildo Pieropan Soave Classico Calvarino 2009, which earned 91 points when reviewed by Wine Spectator 11 years ago.

The unveiling was a wow moment on lots of levels.

First, it was a reminder of just how stunning Soave can be. The appellation has long suffered as a result of its own success, with producers capitalizing on that by churning out huge quantities of so-so vino. But the good stuff can be great.

Second, it was a demonstration of the fantastic aging potential of Pieropan's wines in general. "With time, they express themselves beautifully," raved Cornelissen. This is particularly true for Calvarino, which was among the first of Italy's single-vineyard whites when it debuted with the 1971 vintage.

Third, it was shocking that now-classic Pieropan has long been revered by an extreme winemaker like Cornelissen. Calvarino, which typically retails for less than $30 in the U.S., isn't a fashionable wine. But it probably should be since it checks a lot of modern, hip boxes: It's organically grown, on volcanic soils, fermented in vitrified concrete, using local yeasts, aged there on lees, with minimal sulfites added, and not exposed to a stick of wood. Calvarino is often compared to German Rieslings for its length in the mouth and aging evolution.

By pure coincidence, two days later, I attended a 50th anniversary celebration of Calvarino's release, with a tasting of the wine's vintages going back about 35 years. It was organized at Pieropan's new eco-friendly winery, sliced into a hillside just outside the medieval town of Soave.

Leonildo, who took over the family wine business in 1966, died five years ago at 71, and this tasting was led by his able sons Dario, the winemaker, and Andrea, the agronomist.

Speaking to the assembled group of about 20 wine professionals by video, author Ian d’Agata started things off by recalling when he first tasted the 1979 vintage, in 1985.

"I’d never had a six-year-old Italian wine that was [still] good," he said, adding that his first Calvarino was not only good but "as good as the old German whites and Burgundies I knew."

"I never forgot it," he added, "because it opened my mind to what a great Italian white could be."

The steep, 20-acre Calvarino vineyard is—like the wine—dominated by Soave's mainstay grape, Garganega, with its delicate floral and fruit aromas. Because the grape is low in malic acid, the wine is, like many classic Soaves, completed by high-toned Trebbiano di Soave, which makes up about one-third of the blend.

Calvarino starkly contrasts with Pieropan's other Soave Classico cru, the rich and toasty La Rocca, made from grapes grown in limestone soils and fermented in wood casks. La Rocca, whose first vintage was 1978, is Pieropan's most celebrated, award-festooned wine. But Calvarino has its partisans: I am one.

Over two hours, we tasted seven vintages of Calvarino, starting with a pretty, well-balanced 2021 and going back in time to sample vintages that could be austere, juicy, saline or deliciously creamy textured. We finished with the cool 1987 vintage, which was just beginning to show oxidative, Sherry-like notes.

"This was a good wine at the time of release. Now it is spectacular," enthused Montalcino-born wine educator Gabriele Gorelli, Italy's first Master of Wine.

"The fact that Calvarino has never experienced an oak regime," he said, means it speaks in a "very Germanic language."

Leonildo Pieropan was a humble maestro who cared more for the pure expression of his terroirs than for chasing consumer trends.

Calvarino is a lot like him: A quiet type with a lot to say.

We can expect more surprises from Pieropan. The family has set aside unbottled tanks of the wine for future release. Until then, it is easy enough to find Calvarino hidden in plain sight next to louder and more fashionable bottles.