Custoza DOC

The white of the morainic hills between Verona and Lake Garda, and one of the few Italian denominations defined entirely by a blend rather than a grape. Custoza has no flagship variety and never has.

The Terroir The registered file gives the mechanism plainly. The production area occupies the hill band of the eastern morainic amphitheatre between Verona and Lake Garda. The relief and the lie of the land, it says, allow daytime warming of the slopes and a night-time accumulation of cold air, which favour the aromatic peculiarities and the fresh, young and lively character of the wine. And it credits the ground directly: the morainic soils, formed by the successive glaciations, determine the particular minerality and sapidity of the whites. This is the debris the Garda glacier left behind — gravel, sand and clay heaped in ridges.

Grape Varieties A committee. Garganega leads, with Trebbiano Toscano, Friulano, Cortese, Malvasia, Riesling Italico, Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco and Manzoni Bianco all permitted in varying proportions. Growers choose their own emphasis, which is why two Custozas can taste quite unlike one another. A Superiore, a spumante and a passito are also made.

The Critical Take Custoza is routinely dismissed as Soave’s duller neighbour, and the comparison is unfair in both directions. Where Soave is Garganega and the argument is about site, Custoza is a blend and the argument is about assembly — the best examples have peach and almond from Garganega, cut from the Welschriesling in the blend, and a saline, stony finish from the moraine. The Superiore versions age far better than anyone expects. It remains one of the cheapest genuinely good whites in northern Italy, which is both its virtue and the reason it gets no respect.

Custoza the Battlefield The village gave its name to two Italian defeats in the wars of unification — 1848 and 1866 — both fought over these ridges because whoever held the moraine held the road between Verona and the lake. The ossuary tower above the vineyards holds the dead of both. The same low hills that made the ground worth fighting over make the wine.

The Blend Is the Point Because no single variety is mandated in any fixed proportion, Custoza is one of the few Italian whites where the winemaker’s assembly decides the style outright. Garganega supplies weight and the almond note; Trebbiano and Cortese supply acidity; Friulano adds a waxy, herbal middle; Chardonnay rounds it. Growers who lean on Garganega and pick late make something quite serious; those who lean on Trebbiano make an aperitivo. Reading the back label is worth the trouble here in a way it rarely is.

At the Table Veronese and lake cooking: bigoli, lake perch and whitefish, boiled meats with perà, asparagus, and Monte Veronese cheese. Serve at 9–11°C.

Benchmark Producers Cavalchina, Le Vigne di San Pietro, Gorgo, Monte del Frà.