So, where is the wine in Venice?
I’ll be the first to admit that when I think of Italian wine – the rolling Tuscan hills, stone villas and fiascoes of Chianti instantly spring to mind. But wine in Venice? not so much.
This is probably the reason why my partner and I spent our week in Venice only drinking house wine and not bothering to look at the labels. This was pre-vino days for us. There’s no shame in being a winemaker that has visited Italy and not seen a single vineyard (okay, a little shame) but this was before we knew that wine was the name of the game that we wanted to play. This was also during our student years, and we all know how students like to budget, with wine from Italy being an expense that we could not afford – but we managed to experience a bit of the vino culture regardless.
Would I have done that trip to Venice differently? Of course not.
Would I return to Venice and see another side of the floating city that I didn’t know about before? Definitely.
Despite what some traveling blogs may have you believe, Venice is only a small part of the North-Eastern region Veneto. Veneto is a small but important and substantial wine region which actually produces more than any other wine region in Italy. The Alps protect the regions’ vineyards from the harsh European climate and the cooler areas are ideal for the white Italian varietals where the warmer, more coastal vineyard sites provide ideal conditions for the reds.
Chances are you’ve heard of Amarone, Valpolicella, Soave and Prosecco. There are plenty of other wines produced in Veneto but these are what the region is most well known for.
If you’re drinking house wine (like we did every night) then you’ll most likely be tasting any one of the local Italian varieties in your glass. It could be Trebbiano, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay or Gargenega. And trust me when I say, it won’t feel like you’re drinking on a budget when you order the house wine. Wherever we dined in the floating city, the house wine was excellent – it was never thin, tasteless or dull. It was vibrant, fresh and oh-so-yummy. Some of the best foodie moments we had were over a jug or two of the house wine at 6342 a le tole restaurant – best to book your table in advance!
The wine culture in Venice is not only alive and well, but it’s been around for centuries. Intertwined amongst the canals and winding alleyways of Venice, you’ll find bacari, small bars serving local daily bites called cicchetti and fine local wines. We found a hole in the wall bar, Antico Dolo, picked out their finest cicchetti and paired it with Prosecco and Bellini. This was one of my favorite ways to while away the day – drinking and snacking on great Venetian delicacies.
So, if you’re not drinking the house wine at restaurants and you’re not snacking and sipping during the afternoon – where else can you get your Venetian vino fix? The answer will always be a Sfuso!
Sfuso are small stores, located throughout the maze of alleyways in Venice, providing locals with wines in plastic containers to refillable glass bottles at the steep price of a single Euro. We bought our own 1.5L plastic bottle and paid around 5 Euros to fill it up with Prosecco!
This particular Sfuso that we visited was Al Canton del Vin, just off one of the Castello’s. All the wines that are available are made only half an hour away from Venice, in a little town called Treviso. We lugged our very own plastic bottle through Venice, bought some octopus street food and sat outside the hotel where George Clooney got married, drinking Prosecco from a 1.5L bottle. Oh, the life.
With so much wine in the region, we barely managed to dip our toes into the wine pool that is Veneto. This means we’ll definitely be back to explore, drink and marvel at the wonders of these wines. Hopefully we’ll return to the vineyards this time.
Tristyn & Jéan
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