Italy | Veneto

The Veneto wine region of Italy - centred around Verona and Lake Garda in the northeastern corner of Italy - stretches from the Po River to the Austrian border. It forms part of the larger Tri-veneto wine region along with its neighbours Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige.

The wines of Veneto are some of Italy’s best known exports and include the famous names of Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino, in addition to providing a source for much of the Italian Pinot Grigio drunk worldwide.

In addition to the 26 DOCs and 13 DOCGs, the Veneto wine region also produces a substantial number of well-priced easy-drinking wines bottles as IGT. This area represents terrific value for money in both red and white wine production and the fact that Roberto Anselmi sell all his top wines under the IGT rather than the Soave DOCG label illustrates that the Veneto IGT is not all about value but also offers some of the greatest-quality wines.

The Corvina and Rondinella grape varieties are behind the vast majority of red wines; however, international grape varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc have proved successful here and are responsible for some of Italy's best Bordeaux-style blends. Garganega and Trebbiano are the popular white cultivars but in addition to northern Italy's flagship white grape variety Pinot Grigio and Tocai Friulano.