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Bianco di Custoza is a white-wine DOC in the Veneto region of north-eastern Italy. The wine might be seen as the white answer to Bardolino, particularly as the production areas of the two DOCs overlap significantly.
The main white grapes grown to produce Bianco di Custoza wines are Trebbiano Toscano (20–45% of the blend), Garganega (20–40%) and Tocai Friulano. The latter variety is known locally as Trebbianello, meaning that local grape growers and winemakers have not been hit so hard by the name Tocai being outlawed here (to avoid confusion with sweet Tokaj wines from Hungary). A final mandatory component in Bianco di Custoza is an addition of 20–30% of Bianca Fernanda (a local clone of Cortese), Malvasia Bianca, Riesling Italico, Pinot Bianco, Chardonnay and Manzoni Bianco, as a blend or individually. This finishes off a complex uvaggio.
To earn the right to the mention superiore, a Bianco di Custoza wine must reach a final alcohol level of 11% alcohol by volume, a full 1.5% higher than the standard version. This is an unusually stringent demand for a DOC law to make, as almost every other superiore wine in Italy is required to find only 0.5% or sometimes 1% extra alcohol. The awkward grape-variety conditions and the big step up demanded for the superiore level are at odds with the generous yield allowances of 15 tons per hectare (12 for superiore), a good example of why the value of Italy's wine laws is so regularly brought into question.
Foaming Bianco di Custoza Spumante is made in addition to the standard still wines, as is a sweet, dried-grape passito style called Bianco di Custoza Passito. These employ the same grape varieties as the standard wines.
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