The Valpolicella area stretches along the hilly band to the north of Verona and produces one of the best known and most appreciated wines in Italy and abroad.

The excellent pedoclimatic characteristics of Valpolicella have made it for centuries distinctively remarkable for its vine growing vocation: to the north the Lessini Mountains separate it from the Trentino region, whereas the river Adige to the south-west divides it from the morainic hills around Lake Garda; on the north-eastern side Monte Pastello defines the border with the area of Valdadige. The whole area benefits from the cool climate of the nearby Lake Garda and the fresh airflows from the Lessini Mountains. All of these pedoclimatic features contribute in making this stretch of land suitable for the cultivation of vines.

The land of our vineyards is mostly hilly and consists of a red-brown soil rich in detrital, limestone-marly and basaltic sediments where we grow Corvina, Corvina grossa, Rondinella, Molinara and Oseleta.

Our winery has decided years ago to invest in this region, opening a new winery in Valpolicella dedicated exclusively to the cultivation, harvest, raisining and vinification of grapes for the excellent wines of this particular area.

Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara are the autochthonous grapes used for producing two wines unique in the world: Amarone della Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella.

Compared with the grapes generally used for producing the two versions of Valpolicella wines, namely Valpolicella Classico and Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso, the grapes selected for the production of Recioto and Amarone undergo a special treatment. These wines are, in fact, the outcome of a careful hand selection of the best and undamaged grape bunches. Once they have reached the perfect level of ripeness (usually a few days before the ripening stage required for Valpolicella wines).

The grape bunches are handpicked and carefully collected in one layer in small plastic crates and in the “Arele” in order both to allow for air circulation and to avoid the crushing of the grapes. The crates are then stored in wide, dry and well-ventilated attics, the so called “fruttai”, and left there for three to four months in order for the grapes to undergo the raisining process. By raisining, by means of natural grape drying, the grape berries lose about 30 to 40% of their weight and achieve a high concentration of sugars and other fundamental berry components such as glycerine, extracts and aromas.

Once the raisining phase is over the grapes are crushed, usually in January, and fermentation begins. Owing to the winter cold, which highly affects the fermentation temperature, fermentation happens slowly at low temperatures. Once the vinification stage is over the resulting wine is left ageing in small Slovenian and French oak casks from Allier for at least 12 months. Ageing time varies depending on the characteristics of the single harvest and is usually relatively short for Recioto and longer for Amarone. Amarone DOC Classico, in particular, requires at least 2/3 years aging in Slovenian oak barrels. After barrel ageing the wine is bottled and benefits from a further bottle ageing prior to release.

The worldwide reputation of Valpolicella wines can be ascribed largely to Recioto, a sweet red wine whose name derives from the word recia. This dialect term of Veronese peasants indicates either the smallest and thinnest bunches or the upper part of a thick grape bunch that are selected to undergo a raisining process that lasts for 30 to 90 days.

Although obtained by the same blend of grapes as the Amarone, the Recioto differentiates from it not only in terms of palate – significantly sweeter (amabile) than the former as a result of a high level of unfermented sugars – and consumption (Amarone pairs well with red meat, game and fermented cheese while Recioto is best enjoyed as dessert wine with cakes and pastry or as vino da meditazione) but also in terms of physical and chemical characteristics.

The grapes selected for producing Recioto are usually picked later than those used to make Amarone and therefore present a higher sugar content. Furthermore, they undergo a longer raisining process, thus developing more intense and concentrated aromas along with a natural sweetness. Stuck fermentation of the grapes used for Recioto occurs naturally since the extremely high sugar level prevents the yeast from working properly as it normally does for the Amarone wine, the latter lacking or deficient in residual sugars.

Furthermore, by anticipating or delaying the first-racking, it is possible to determine higher or lower sweetness of (the given) wine, this being the key element that differentiates Amarone from Recioto, the former being the result of the complete transformation of sugar into alcohol.

These two wine typologies also differentiate in terms of longevity and aging potential: while Amarone is a wine that could benefit from further aging for a few decades, Recioto is best enjoyed if drunk within five to six years after harvest.

All these factors, along with the must concentration achieved by grape raisining and the oak barrel ageing, combine together to obtain a wine with exclusive organoleptic characteristics, that has no equal in the world.

The Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso is a wine obtained according to the traditional Valpolicella ripasso technique: the wine undergoes a second fermentation on raisened grape skins which have been used to make

Recioto and/or Amarone and therefore still rich in sugars and tannins. According to the Regulation on the production of Valpolicella this vinification technique is reserved exclusively for Valpolicella wines.