Soave is one of the most attractive names imaginable for a wine. Had it not already existed, a public relations firm might well have made its own and the wine’s fortunes by coining it. In fact, the origin of the name is absolutely uncertain. Two hypotheses have been advanced but they owe more to legend than to fact.

       The first thesis attributes paternity of the name to the great Italian poet of the 13th century, Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy and a great friend of the lord of Verona, Cangrande della Scala.

       The second argument has Romeo tasting the wine after a tryst with Juliet. “Soave,” he says to the servant who brought him the goblet but he could just as well be talking about one of Juliet’s kisses. 
       Whatever the source of the name, the wine itself has been praised for centuries, the favorable comments on its quality going back at least to Cassiodorus, who strongly recommended it to his lord, the Gothic King Theodoric, comparing it with another enological masterpiece of the same area, the Recioto della Valpolicella. 
       In more recent times, Soave was one of the favorite wines of poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, who once sipped some Soave and observed: “It is the wine of youth and love so that it’s not for me, since I am now loaded down with years and was ever a discreet lover. But I drink it in homage to the past. If it can’t restore me to the age of twenty, it can at least reawaken memories of that time.”

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