San Martino della Battaglia DOC

A small denomination on the southern shore of Lake Garda, taking in parts of Sirmione, Desenzano, Lonato and Pozzolengo in the province of Brescia and Peschiera in that of Verona. It is named after a battle, and it is built on a single grape that changed its name by court order.

The Terroir The registered file is brief and puts everything on the lake. This is a zone particularly benefited by the favourable climatic conditions determined by the great mass of the Lake Garda basin, which has always favoured the luxuriant development of the vineyards that stretch along its shores. The ground is the same glacial moraine that carries Lugana next door and Custoza across the provincial line — gravel, sand and clay left in ridges by the retreating Garda glacier.

The Battle On 24 June 1859 the Piedmontese army under Vittorio Emanuele II fought the Austrians on these low hills while, a few kilometres south, the French and Austrian main armies met at Solferino. The two engagements were the decisive day of the Second War of Italian Independence. A Swiss businessman named Henry Dunant arrived at Solferino by accident the following morning, was appalled by what he found, and went home to found the Red Cross. The tower above the vineyards commemorates the Italian dead.

Grape Varieties Friulano — the grape the file still lists under its old name, Tocai Friulano, and which growers here have always called Tuchì. The wine is citrine yellow moving to gold with age, evolved and intense on the nose, fresh and dry on the palate. A liquoroso is also registered, which is unusual for the variety anywhere.

The Critical Take San Martino della Battaglia is a curiosity and a good one. Friulano on Garda moraine gives something quite unlike the Friulian version: less waxy and almond-scented, more citric and mineral, with the lake’s freshness in it. The problem is arithmetic. This is some of the most expensive tourist land in northern Italy, hemmed in by Sirmione and Desenzano, and its neighbour Lugana sells at a premium from the same soil. Very few growers see a reason to keep planting it, and the denomination is tiny and shrinking.

Tocai, Tuchì, Friulano The grape’s Italian name was settled by the European Court of Justice in 2005 in Hungary’s favour: from 2007, no Italian wine could be called Tocai. Friuli adopted Friulano and the Veneto adopted Tai. Here on Garda the local dialect name Tuchì had been in use all along, which made the transition easier than most.

At the Table Garda cooking: lake whitefish and perch, tortelli di zucca, bigoli, and the olive oil of the western shore. Serve at 10–12°C.

Benchmark Producers Selva Capuzza, whose estate sits inside the battlefield, and Cà Maiol.