Summary
Cantina di Soave is not a small family address but one of Italy's largest wine cooperatives – and therefore a producer that has helped shape the face of the Veneto on the shelf. Founded in 1898 by smallholders around the town of Soave, it today brings together around 2,200 member growers and grapes from roughly 6,500 hectares of vineyard. Its core is Soave made from the Garganega grape, but the portfolio reaches far beyond that: into the Valpolicella with Amarone and Ripasso, into the Monti Lessini with sparkling wine from Durella, and all the way to Lake Garda. Since 2022 the group has operated under the umbrella name Cadis 1898.
History
The cooperative was founded in 1898, when small growers around Soave joined forces to press and market their grapes together – a typical step in northern Italy at the time against dependence on merchants. Over the decades the Cantina Sociale grew into an expanding alliance: in the early 1960s it still counted a few hundred members, today there are around 2,200.
Much of that growth came from mergers with neighbouring cooperatives. This added cellar sites and origins reaching well beyond Soave – in Illasi for the reds of the Valpolicella, and in Montecchia di Crosara for Durello from the Monti Lessini. In parallel, from the 2000s onwards, Borgo Rocca Sveva below the medieval castle of Soave was developed into a showcase site with historic cellars, a barrel store and a hospitality area.
In 2022 the group drew the logical conclusion and placed itself under the umbrella name Cadis 1898 – a contraction of "Cantina di Soave" plus the founding year, gathering the various cellars and brands into one family without flattening their individual identities.
Location & Terroir
Soave lies around 25 kilometres east of Verona, where the Po plain meets the foothills of the Monti Lessini. It is precisely this transition that makes the area interesting: in Soave Classico, the historic core around Soave and Monteforte d'Alpone, the vines grow on hills of volcanic origin – dark basaltic soil that gives the wines salinity, drive and ageing potential. In the flatter zones, calcareous sedimentary soils dominate and produce softer, fruitier wines.
The climate is moderately continental with marked day-night swings in the hillside sites – ideal for preserving the aromatics of the late-ripening Garganega. Further west, in the Valpolicella, limestone soils and cool downslope winds shape the climate for Corvina and Rondinella; to the north-east, in the Monti Lessini, altitude delivers the piercing acidity of Durella.
Style & Philosophy
A cooperative of this size inevitably works across a broad quality spectrum – and turns that into a system. The wines are vinified separately by origin, site quality and yield, then allocated to lines. The demand at entry level is cleanliness and varietal typicity: cool-fermented, dry white wines with citrus, white orchard fruit and the almond note in the finish that is so typical of Garganega.
The top end is represented by the Rocca Sveva line, which handles grapes from selected hillside sites and ages part of the range in wood. Sparkling wine plays a role of its own: Equipe 5, launched in the 1960s by a group of young agronomists, is among the older traditional-method projects in the Veneto and is still made as a bottle-fermented sparkling wine today.
Notable Sites & Wines
The range follows the appellations of the region:
- Soave DOC and Soave Classico DOC – the backbone of the house, from Garganega with a share of Trebbiano di Soave or Chardonnay
- Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG and Valpolicella Ripasso DOC – from partly dried Corvina and Rondinella grapes, the focus of the cellar in Illasi
- Lessini Durello DOC / Monti Lessini – high-acid sparkling wines from the local Durella, often positioned as a distinct alternative to Prosecco
- Equipe 5 – traditional method, including a rosé version
- Bardolino DOC and Custoza DOC – from the zone east of Lake Garda
- Recioto di Soave DOCG – the sweet speciality of the zone, made from dried Garganega grapes
Awards
The Rocca Sveva premium line is regularly reviewed in international wine guides and competitions, especially with its Amarone and Soave Classico bottlings. Its real significance, however, lies elsewhere: as a cooperative with several thousand hectares under contract, Cantina di Soave is one of the benchmarks for how reliable Venetian white wine tastes in the volume segment – and across more than 50 export markets it is often the very first encounter with the name Soave.