Italy’s Bardolino Wine Trail
Sample Regional Red Wines from Vineyards Beside Lake Garda
Stop at a cantina or enoteca or visit the wine museum on a tasting tour of the wineries in the Veneto, near Verona.
The dry and fruity red Bardolino wines are produced from a relatively small area around the town of Bardolino, on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, in northern Italy. This narrow strip – only about 8 miles long and two wide -- benefits from the afternoon sun and its reflected warmth from the lake. The wine is similar to its better-known next-door neighbor to the east, the Valpolicella region north of Verona.
The main types are Bardolino, Bardolino Classico, Bardolino Superiore, along with a rosé known as Bardolino Chiaretto. A dry white wine, Bianco di Custoza, is also produced in the region , near the town of Peschiera del Garda at the base of the lake.
Travelers interested in wine should pick up a copy of the ‘Strada del Vino Bardolino’ brochure at any tourist office (there is an excellent one in Peschiera, right at the boat landing, under the fort). This describes and maps the cantine and other places where you can taste the region’s wines.
A cantina is a winery, and they can be as simple as a row of stainless steel vats and a small shop to an elegant estate with manicured gardens. A few offer tours, some only to groups, but they are often by appointment only, so it is always a good idea to call ahead.
The Museo del Vino (Wine Museum) at the Cantine Zeni is a good place to begin, for a look at wine making from historic times to the present. You can sample Bardolino in their tasting room, although they do not give tours of the winery itself (Open mid-Mar-Oct, Mon-Fri 9am-1pm, 2pm-6pm. Via Costabella 9, tel 045 721 00 22).
At the Guerrieri-Rizzardi estate in Bardolino, you can tour the grand old palazzo, along with the orchards and gardens. In the cellars you can taste their wines and other local products, including olives and olive oil (Open Apr-Oct by appointment only; tel 045 721 00 28).
Visitors to Bardolino in late September – a beautiful warm season without the summer lake crowds – can take part in the big wine festival that stretches along the town’s lake-side park and promenade. This is a chance to sample wines from smaller vineyards that don’t have open cantine.
Two wine shops are worth a stop as well. At the stylish Enoteca del Bardolino you can taste, buy a glass or a bottle of Bardolino’s own wines, or of top wines from elsewhere. There is also a good restaurant; (Piazza Principe Amedeo, Bardolino; tel 045 721 1585).
Enoteca L’Arte del Bere also has a good selection of both Italian and foreign wines. You can taste or buy by the glass at the little bar (Via Cansignorio 10, Lazise; tel 045 758 00).
