Breganze, Italy
Breganze is located in the Veneto Region of Italy. It’s inland, an hour from Venice and an hour from Verona in the province of Vincenza.
The region is north of the city of Vincenza, tucked into the corner formed by the Cima Dodici and the Cima Carega Mountains. This is the upper end of the Po Plain, where the Asiago Plateau begins.
Wine came to this region in prehistoric times and continued with the Romans. The vineyards sit at the foot of the Alps.
Here, they grow primarily French varieties, with a bit of Marzemino and some very important Vespaiola that we will dig into at another time.
The Wines of Maculan
Today, we are tasting red wines from Maculan, one of the largest wineries in the region. Angela Maculan spoke with us about their winery and vineyards and, through StudioCru, provided us with some samples of their wines to taste and pair.
Her family has been involved in wine for 100 years, beginning with her great-grandfather, who had an Osteria and made a little wine. After World War II, in 1947, their grandfather went full into wine and built a winery.
They built this winery in the center of town. Since they did not have vineyards at the time, they built their business next to their home. It is just 200 meters from the town’s main square.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, they produced inexpensive wine in 1-liter bottles sealed with a crown cap or in demijohns.
In the 1970s, Fausto took over the family business after studying wine in Conegliano. Today, his daughters Angela and Maria Vittoria run the company with him.
They began by leasing and subsequently purchasing land and vineyards. Today, they have 48 hectares of vineyards and olive groves, all within the commune of Breganze.
All of these vineyards are on the hills in Breganza and must be hand-harvested. They also purchase grapes from growers they know well.
50% of their production is red, 30% white, and 20% dessert. Their portfolio includes 21 wines.
The red wines of Maculan
Brentino
Brentino is their classic wine and the primary wine in their production. They make 100,000 bottles annually of this wine. The name is a combination of Brenta, the river to the east, La Brenta, the name for the backpack basket that they use for harvest, and Il Brento, the name for the container on the horse carriage that delivered wine to the Osteria.
They made the first vintage of this wine in 1981. It is typically a 50/50 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon fermented in Stainless Steel and then aged ½ in stainless steel and half in used oak.
This is the expression of everyday table wine in this region. If you head to a café in Breganze, you can expect the house wine to be a Merlot Cabernet blend.
This is a youthful, approachable wine with notes of mint, blackberry, cola, berry bramble, black cherry, and black currant, with secondary notes of cedar, raisin, and tobacco.
13.5% abv
Palazzotta
This is a Cabernet Sauvignon named for the street where their first vineyard was located.
While Angela’s grandfather made only blends, Bianco and Rosso, with this wine, her father began focusing on the varieties as he had seen done in France.
This wine does a stainless steel ferment and then spends 1 year in French Oak (1/2 used). Her father was among the first in the Veneto in the late 1970s to use French Barriques.
The vines are planted at a high density, 1 meter by 1 meter, which causes them to act older than they are due to the stress of competition.
When they harvest each parcel, they do 2 or 3 selection passes that are vinified separately. They avoid long macerations out of practicality. They have many lots and small tanks and need to turn them over at harvest.
Angela says this wine screams Cabernet from northern Italy. The volcanic soil adds to the freshness, acidity, and minerality. You can almost taste the saltiness.
I found notes in this wine of red currant, bubblicious cherry, anise, licorice, hoison, walnut, raisin, prune with spice notes.
14.5% abv
Fratta
Fratta is the name of the original vineyard for this wine, which was planted in 1977, the same year that Angela was born.
This is a hill of tufa. Initially, it was a single-vineyard Cabernet. In 1997, they added Merlot to round out the wine, and now it is a Cabernet Merlot Blend. This wine is made from the best grapes each year, with the percentage of Merlot and Cab adjusted each year. It spends 18 months in oak, 80% new.
They only make about 7,000 bottles of this wine and only in the best years. This wine, they estimate, can age for 20-40 years.
Notes of blood orange, rhubarb, fruitcake, black plum, black cherry, red currant, cranberry, eucalyptus, rosemary, cocoa powder, allspice, cola, cedar, sweet tobacco and cigar box.
14.5% abv
Spezzatino di Manzo – Italian beef Stew
These wines definitely needed to be paired with meat. I chose a humble dish. Spezzatino di Manzo is simply beef stew. Often served with polenta, we chose pair just the stew with the wines.
This hearty stew slow cooks to tenderize the meat, which is often tougher cuts for this humble peasant dish.
This savory dish went beautifully with these wines.
For more on the wines of Maculan, visit their website at https://www.maculan.net/en/home-english/
And watch for additional articles here, including one on their delicious dessert wine Torcolato!
Italian Stew - Spezzatino di Manzo
Spezzitino di manzo is Italian Beef Stew. The ingredients often depend on the cook, but it is important to begin with soffritto, that blend of onion, carrot and celery. All good stews take time so allow at least 2 hours for this to cook. In Northern Italy, they often serve this over polenta, but we chose to enjoy its flavors on its own with a glass of red wine from Breganze!
Ingredients
- ½ cup flour
- 2 lbs beef chuck steak, cut into stew size cubes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup pancetta chopped
- 1 carrot peeled and finely chopped
- 1 stalk of celery finely chopped
- ½ onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ½ can diced tomatoes
- ¾ cup beef stock
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh sage chopped
- 1 tbsp capers rinsed
- Parsley for garnish
- Salt to season
Instructions
- Toss beef cubes in flour to coat, and season with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in your Dutch oven.
- Brown the beef in batches, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Then set aside
- Add the pancetta, onion, carrot, and celery and cook, stirring regularly, for 5 minutes or until softened and slightly browned.
- Add the wine and stir, scraping the delicious brown bits from the bottom. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the beef stock, tomato, rosemary & sage and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour 20 minutes.
- Uncover and cook over a simmer for another 40 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and the beef is tender.
- Before serving, stir in the capers, season with salt, and top with fresh parsley.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 648Total Fat 38gSaturated Fat 14gTrans Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 22gCholesterol 178mgSodium 377mgCarbohydrates 19gFiber 3gSugar 3gProtein 55g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine and WSET 3 Certified. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.
When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.
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