Inama Foscarino Soave Classico 2020
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
It opens fresh, mineral, deep, with fragrant field flower notes (chamomile, elderflower, iris). On the palate is rich, complex and multilayered with an almond finish. With the passing of time, these notes transform into even more complex aromas of pollens and dried flowers.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
Crushed stone and flowers, underbrush and pear transform in the glass becoming more floral over time as the 2020 Soave Classico I Palchi Foscarino Grande Cuvée slowly unfolds. This is silky-smooth, with a balanced and attractive sweetness and juicy acids that motivate the ripe apple and green melon within. That’s when the minerality comes forward, mixing with pretty inner florals and gingery spice through the long and structured finale. This could emerge as a masterpiece. In 2020, the Foscarino Grande Cuvée was matured all in thirty-five-hectoliter casks. This was tasted from a tank sample.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
James Suckling
Very ripe, yet discreet and so mineral and punchy, almost like smelling a wet rock. Bone-dry and crisp, yet elegant and textured. Really attractive and subtle with a linear, mineral finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Inama 2020 Soave Classico Foscarino has a savory bouquet with dried thyme and a touch of balsam herb that gives a 360° view onto the versatile Garganega grape. Aged in stainless steel with some oak, this wine offers primary aromas of citrus, apricot and Golden Delicious apple. Compared to some of the other releases in this portfolio, this expression from 2020 is slightly thinner in terms of mouthfeel and texture.
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Now in its third generation of leadership, the Inama family has been producing wine for over forty years in the Veneto. The family has a well-defined goal to produce different wines whose only aim is to represent their vision of the land, despite the styles and trends of the moment. In the 1950s, prior to founding the Inama estate, Giuseppe Inama began using his savings to purchase small plots of vineyards in the center of the Soave Classico region. At the time few understood the area's potential, but Giuseppe believed that he could make a wine capable of restoring Soave's reputation by working with only top-quality vineyards of old-vine Garganega (Soave’s original grape).
At Inama, white grapes are picked fully ripe, and after a short maceration and gentle pressing the must is left to settle before a temperature-controlled fermentation and spontaneous malolactic fermentation. In order to preserve both the aromatic intensity and natural balance of the grapes, the wines are bottled with minimum fining and filtration.
In addition to working with Garganega, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, Inama also grows traditional Bordeaux varietals in the historic, hidden zone of Colli Berici – Italy’s oldest DOC for Cabernet and Merlot grapes. Their Carmenère vineyards here date back to the 1800s. This historic, though little known zone south of Vicenza has a temperate climate and is marked by unique ancient geological seismic events calle “bradyseism”—volcanic ridges generating a soil extremely rich in trace elements and minerals. Inama feels this terroir is the most underrated and under-realized in Italy and his goal is to produce great wines from these hillsides.
Inama believes in everyday living and minimalism, respecting the winemaking practices that have laid the foundations of modern wine.
Producing wine for more than half century has led them to develop three fundamental values that inspire their projects: a great terroir dominates the varietal aspects of the grape. A wine’s caliber depends upon the quality of the ecosystem, with the soil paramount. Inama is always working to refine technique, developing internal research and collaborating with some of the most renowned international experts.
One of Italy’s classic white varieties, Garganega flourishes in the rolling vineyards surrounding the medieval village of Soave and is the dominant variety in the wine from the region, aptly known as, Soave. By law it makes up 70-100% of the blend with the remainder traditionally finished off by Trebbiano di Soave for its crispness. Somm Secret—The best Soave wines, measurably elegant and vibrant, come from the Soave Classico zone, in the center of Soave, where the hills are made of decomposed volcanic and granitic soils.
Among Italy’s classic whites capable of great potential, Soave is named after the medieval village and surrounding hillsides from whence it comes. The original, historical Soave zone, delimited back in 1927, covers the eastern, volcanic hillsides of today's general Soave zone and is called Soave Classico.
Garganega, the indigenous grape responsible for great Soave, produces medium bodied white wines with fine acidity. Typical in the best Soaves are lively flowery and fresh herbal aromas and flavors such as orange zest, peach, melon and marjoram. The best can take some age and in so doing, develop notes of chamomile, marmalade and honey.
By the 1960s and 70s, Soave was enjoying such a glorious global reputation, that its demand forced growers to push beyond the zone's original borders. Expansion led west out of the hills and onto the alluvial plain of the Adige River. This, coupled with an increase in yields and allowance of additional varieties such as Trebbiano, Chardonnay and Pinot blanc, met demand but created a softer, fruit-forward, everyday Soave. Today the broader region can be the source of charming and value driven whites. But those labeled as Soave Classico or in rare cases, as Soave Colli Scaligeri (nearby hillside vineyards abutting the Classico zone), will be the best quality and age-worthy Soaves. These are often 100% Garganega.