Wine with Leslie: Red and rosé wines for pairing with rich food

A major perk of writing about wine used to be the vineyard visits — and one of my very favourite regions to visit is the Veneto. Just over a year ago I spent a few days staying in the pretty village of Bardolino on the shores of Lake Garda. We had breakfast at the lakeside every morning and took a couple of jaunts on a vintage speedboat. It really was heavenly. A contact in Bardolino recently sent me a selection of the village’s best wines so I have been cooking risotto and vicariously visiting this month.

That 2019 visit was with the Rizzardi family (imported by O’Briens) who have their headquarters there but they are probably more famous for their Valpolicella and Amarone. Bardolino is just 30 minutes from Romeo and Juliet’s home town of Verona, and hour or so from Vicenza and another 40 minutes to Venice (maybe stopping in Padua where Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew is set).