Comments on: What do they mean by Superiore?

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:34:50 +0000

When I was at Vinitaly, one producer from the Langhe explained the Superiore label as being more like a cru designation, one where only hand-selected grapes were crushed, fermented and vinted separately, hence the special name.
Or maybe my Italian is worse than I thought.

By: Craig Camp

Craig Camp — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:14:37 +0000

Superiore certainly is not limited to the Piemonte.

By: VinoWire

VinoWire — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:35:23 +0000

Craig, thanks for the comment. Originally, superiore did denote a higher alcohol content — hard to achieve in a time before modernization in Piedmont. Today, producers have no trouble surpassing the 12.5% required to label the wine as superiore.

By: Craig Camp

Craig Camp — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:44:07 +0000

It was my understanding that Superiore meant a higher minimum potential alcohol, which simply denoted riper grapes were harvested.