Libertate is a 100% Trebbiano di Soave from black, volcanic soil; its vinification in stainless steel and terracotta amphorae leaves it free to express its youthful exuberance and distinctively individual style.
Trebbiano di Soave is a local grape variety that has all but disappeared, but in whose potential Balestri Valda has always believed.
The highly colored labels, each one different from the others, make it clear: this wine is intended to be a tribute to tenacity, but also to fantasy and freedom.
The indigenous Trebbiano di Soave grape variety
This variety is of extremely ancient origins, and was already known in Roman times. Historically, it was always cultivated in the hills of Soave until the 1980s, when even in our region international varieties became widespread and many vineyards of indigenous grapes were unfortunately grubbed up.
Today we are one of the few producers who grow it, and even less of us vinify it as a 100% varietal.
Here at Balestri Valda we have always liked this vigorous, rustic cultivar; ever since we started up, we have used it with excellent results in the classic Soave blend with Garganega.
In 2016, after years of experimentation, we launched Libertate, a 100% Trebbiano di Soave vinified in stainless steel and terracotta amphorae.
AMPELOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF TREBBIANO DI SOAVE
Buds with a broad, downy apex; whitish green with a pinkish border; slightly bent apical leaves, whitish green in color, with pinkish hints and downy on the lower side.
Medium-sized, compact or semi-compact, conical bunches with a wing; medium-sized, round berries, yellowish green in color; quite thick, slightly bloomy skins; juicy pulp, sweet in flavor.
Medium-sized, pentagonal, tri-lobed leaves, dark green in color, downy on the lower side; the lobes of the leaf overlap at the petiolar sinus.
Wines and volcanoes
Balestri Valda’s vineyards are situated within a large volcanic/tectonic basin delimited to the West by the tectonic line of Castelvero and to the East by the Schio-Vicenza line.
There is a close relationship between basalt soils and the rich flavors and balance that are to be found in the wines that come from them.
Basalts are volcanic rocks that were formed by successive series of eruptions that went on for three geological cycles, all of them in a sub-marine environment. These eruptions gave rise to volcanoclastic products of colors varying from gray to yellow and reddish, depending on their area of formation and degree of oxidation. The action of external agents then had varied effects on the different volcanic substrata, contributing towards a re-modelling of the landscape and thus creating its modern-day appearance.
Basalts, which are poor in silicon and rich in magnesium and iron, tend to absorb between 85% and 99% of the phosphates added to these rocks. Consequently, any periodic fertilization should be reduced considerably in terms of frequency, also owing to these rocks’ strong draining capacities.
But in our soils there is not only basalt; this black stone is in fact mixed with white limestone, creating an amalgam of minerals from which the vines are able to benefit.
The limestone deposits are what is left of ancient sea beds; these sediments rich in calcium carbonate, depositing themselves at the bottom of the sea, trapped animals and shells, which we can still find today in fossils of very curious and varied kinds.