There is a wine that the eastern shore of Lake Garda has produced since before anyone thought of naming it. Bronze Age findings attest to the presence of vines in these hills, the Romans drank their wine in sacred rituals with grapes from this territory, and medieval monks stored it in monastery cellars. But it was in the 19th century that local production began to circulate throughout Italy with a precise identity, that of Bardolino: a wine that in 1897 a writer described as being able to "travel all over Italy and compete with the best of the peninsula," and which in the 1940s was already being exported to the United States.

The territory that produces it is among the most unique in Italy. The morainic hills of the Veronese shore of Garda are the direct legacy of ancient glaciers, which shaped a series of concentric reliefs facing the water, depositing extraordinarily variable soils: gravels, clays, calcareous silts, sands, all within a few kilometers. Lake Garda does the rest: it retains summer heat and releases it in winter, creating an almost Mediterranean microclimate that allows the cultivation of olive trees alongside vines, mitigates temperature excursions, and gives wines a freshness that no other area of the Veronese hinterland can imitate. The winds coming down from the ridges of Monte Baldo complete the picture, ensuring constant ventilation and healthy grapes.

At the heart of it all are two native grape varieties that have belonged to this land for millennia: Corvina Veronese, the reference grape of the denomination and also a protagonist of Amarone and Valpolicella, and Rondinella, its inseparable companion. The same grape varieties, the same soil, but on these morainic hills overlooking Garda the result is completely different: not the power of Amarone, not the structure of Valpolicella Superiore, but something more subtle, lighter, livelier. Bardolino is a pale and brilliant ruby red, with small red fruits, a delicate spiciness, a savoriness that comes directly from the gravelly soils, and a freshness that makes it one of Italy's most drinkable reds. Dry, savory, harmonious: these were the words used at the beginning of the 20th century to describe it, and they are still the most accurate.

The appellation includes several types: the Bardolino red in its basic and Classico versions, with the Classico area encompassing the oldest municipalities closest to the lake; Bardolino Chiaretto, the reference rosé of Garda, fresh and floral, whose winemaking technique dates back to 1896; Chiaretto Spumante; and Bardolino Superiore DOCG, with a minimum aging of one year, for the most complex and structured expressions. Three subzones, Montebaldo, La Rocca, and Sommacampagna, identify the most suitable terroirs within the DOC, where yields are lower and concentration increases.

Bardolino was among the very first Italian wines to receive DOC status in 1968, a sign of a territorial awareness that has never been lacking in this area. Today, over 60% of production is exported throughout Europe: a wine that doesn't need explanations, just to be opened.