The first time I heard of Silvio Piona was for his Bardolino SP, a red of those that once you have discovered them you can not do without: it is based on corvina and rondinella, costs about 13 euros in a wine shop and is able to grow old with an incredible grace, in short, is a great example to understand the potential of grapes grown on the morainic soils of Lake Garda. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to realize how these grapes give great proof even when they are vinified in pink and how Silvio Piona works very well even in the vinification of whites, with the production of a Custoza which, drunk young, is a small masterpiece of crunchiness and flavor, but which becomes stunning when it is forgotten in the cellar for a few years (the price, in this case, is around 7 euros: if we were in France there could be a zero in more and no one would complain).
I thought I had discovered everything there is to know, then I went to visit Silvio in the cellar. As we wander among the pools, in a simple, modern, well-organized and impeccably clean space, he tells me the company's history, which was founded in 1893 from Albino Piona and that, at the time, also included a trattoria, a food shop and a butcher's shop.
Today it is managed by the fourth generation and has 42 hectares of vineyards for a production of about 350 thousand bottles a year. Silvio has been in the family cellar since he was born. And it is not a way of saying, since at the age of three and a half he fell into a barrel and was saved by the furious barking of the house dog, which fortunately did not stop until he managed to attract the attention of his father .
He tells me a little about his work (he is self-taught, he studied accounting) and his experiments, for example the Classic Method with very long refinements on yeasts.
Then we begin to taste the wines. Stacks the Verde Piona, a refermented in the bottle made from garganega, trebbiano and rondinella grapes, which I have never tasted. He notices my somewhat perplexed look (the refermented today are all the rage and they all produce them) and he tells me that that label is the real workhorse of the company and that they've been doing it for 45 years. It was born in 1973 and in the eighties became so famous that it was among the most requested wines in the province of Verona. His father, a highly skilled trader, had even had himself customize a jug with the company logo, which he gave to restaurateurs for the service. "So you traditionally have it scrapped?", I ask curiously, given that one of the most recurrent questions for wines of this type concerns the mode of service (should they be drunk shaken and then turbid or decanted and therefore clear?). «My father wants it clear and the last glass, the one with the bottom, traditionally uses it for cooking. I prefer to drink it turbid, "Silvio tells me. In order not to hurt any generation, I decide to taste it both ways. Served clear, is a very clean and fragrant wine, sapid and with a spicy and dry finish that encourages its drinking; drunk turbid, it also acquires a pleasant nutty note. However, it is thirst-quenching and has only 12%: in short, it is a perfect picnic wine. And it is my new discovery, of a company that never ceases to amaze me.

Why now: the days get longer, the temperatures rise: it's time to drink the first picnic wine of the year.
As did: it is a sparkling white obtained from the refermentation on the yeasts, without disgorgement.
To combine with: appetizers, light first courses, pasqualina cake, vegetable omelettes.
Serve it at: 8 ° C
Price: 9 euros.

albinopiona.it

Our recipes in combination:

Easter cake

Spaghetti with ricotta and olives

https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/ricetta/secondi/frittata-con-verdure/