Recioto di Soave

It is at least 70 per cent Garganega, the rest Trebbiano di Soave. Only the loosest bunches are picked, by hand, and kept for months in dry, airy lofts called fruttai, checked regularly for rot, until they reach at least 14 per cent potential alcohol. The name comes from recia, the wing of the Garganega bunch by which the grapes were traditionally hung to dry. The wine may not be sold before the first of September of the year after the harvest; a sparkling version and a Classico are also made.

Cassiodorus, minister to the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, wrote to the nobles of Verona asking for a white wine of dried grapes "chosen from the domestic pergolas" for the royal court, praising it as shining like milk and of unbelievable sweetness.