The
original urban nucleus of Custoza grew up at the end of the 13th century around
a watchpost erected during the period of wars between the people of Mantua and
Verona. All of the documents dealing with the buying and selling of vineyards
and sales of wine in the area date to periods following the development of the
community, even if there is evidence that vines were grown and wines made in
the area since prehistoric times. In the Pesciaia di Bolca area, in fact, fossilized remains of early vines species have been found and experts have dated them to more than 40 million years ago, long before the emergence of man.
Techniques of vinification were first introduced around the 6th century BC, when the Etruscans established contacts with the Reti Arusmati, the ancient inhabitants of the Veneto region. In the Roman era, the major part of the lands of the Veneto were already planted in vines. Throughout history since then, there have been constant references to grape growing, which seems, in contrast to the situation in other regions, never to have undergone any great periods of crisis.
In the southern district of the Riviera del Garda, prevalently white-grape vines are cultivated, the principal varieties being Trebbiano Toscano, Garganega, a type that is typical of the Vicenza area, Tocai Friulano, Malvasia Toscana, Riesling Italico and Cortese.
Those grapes, intelligently combined, constitute the mixture used in making Bianco di Custoza, a dry wine with a soft, dry and lightly bitterish flavor and an intense and vinous odor. The wine has been appreciated since at least the 16th century by popes, generals and literary figures. And for many of them, it left fond memories that tended to blot out much harsher recollections of a land that, because of its strategic position, was often the scene of cruel and costly battles.