MORE THAN ANY other winemaker, Romano Dal Forno is the incarnation of the will and talent needed to build an enological territory. Recognized by critics across the globe and idolized by wine enthusiasts, Dal Forno built his own legend around the wines of Valpolicella, evolving together with the land. His wines are singular, the very essence of how fruit and earth can merge in a glass. Exaggerated, emotional, and demonstrative—love or hate them—these wines leave an impression.
The region of Valpolicella is located just north of Verona, and the name of the territory derives from the Latin phrase vallis polis cellae (“valley with many cellars”), which serves as a testimony to the duration of the local winemaking tradition. As far back as history books go, Valpolicella has been known for Recioto, its sweet wine made from dried red grapes. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Recioto has had to compete with the region’s other more interesting and complex wine, Amarone—also made from dried grapes, but vinified in such a way to make it dry, not sweet.
Amarone is in a class of its own. It is not a sweet wine, even though it is made from grapes that are naturally dried after the harvest, and it is not a classically dry wine, because it has the alcohol content of a passito and the structure and complexity of a great red, made for aging. Amarone is simply beyond comparison, even if the wine’s recent success has resulted in imitation, even outside of Europe. Valpolicella is traditionally made with corvina, molinara, and rondinella grapes, with a portion of the grapes being dried.
Until the arrival of Romano Dal Forno, no one produced wine exclusively from dried grapes. His winemaking technique set the standard for today’s Amarone—all this from a man just over fifty years old who has been making wine for less than a quarter century. Thanks to Romano, the concept of winemaking in Valpolicella has been irrevocably changed. Product of a family of farmers in Illasi, a small town northeast of Verona, Romano was influenced at a young age by another prince of winemaking in the Veneto: Giueseppe Quintarelli. This “old master” of Valpolicella suggested that Dal Forno adopt certain innovative practices. As a result, Romano changed the blend for his Amarone, replacing molinara with an older grape variety, oseleta; he increased the density of his vineyards to 5,200 plants per acre; shifted his yield to 11 ounces of grapes per plant; and made appassimento (a natural grape-drying process) his focus. While Dal Forno clung to centuries of tradition in the vineyard, in the cellar, he decided to radically change his approach, employing the most up-to-date technologies. Romano Dal Forno built his identity around this incredible, and in some ways crazy, mix of ancient and ultramodern winemaking techniques.
Dal Forno’s wines and philosophy, however, do not represent all that is Valpolicella. Romano decided to remain a small producer while everyone around him rushed to increase their volumes: In 1997, he produced the same number of bottles of Amarone (15,000) that he does today, while in the same amount of time, the rest of Amarone’s annual production went from two to three million bottles to more than ten million. This giant leap in production stirred leading questions about the overall quality of these wines, which had become very popular, and therefore in high demand, almost overnight. The same goes for the price: Dal Forno continued to increase the price of his wine, while his fellow Amarone makers reacted to the fierce competition and the production of lesser-quality wine by reducing their prices. The point is, Amarone costs more to produce than any other wine in Italy (in terms of commercially comparable wines and not niche products). Primarily, 85 percent of the volume of the grapes is lost during the appassimento process. In addition, by law, the maximum grape yield is restricted to 18,500 pounds per acre (however, in the case of the best producers, we are looking at half of that). Also, the appassimento of the grapes requires spacious drying rooms, or fruttai, and because of the long aging times, wineries must hold on to their inventories for years. Although $500 may seem like a lot to spend on a bottle of Dal Forno, it’s defensible, since demand is high, production is low, and the quality is unquestionable.
Located northeast of Verona and bordered on the east by the Adige River and to the north by the mountainous area of Lessinia, Valpolicella is undoubtedly one of the top Italian winemaking regions. Compared with other areas, the topology is varied and fairly complex. It is important, however, to distinguish between the so-called classic Valpolicella, a complex of vineyards at the production zone, and the “enlarged” Valpolicella. The first stretches west of Verona and is subdivided into three distinct strips of land: a flat plain along the river, a hilly zone (the most famous), and an area at the base of the mountains at 2,000 feet above sea level. The second is located east of the city and is considered less esteemed, even if this is where the Romano Dal Forno cellar and vineyards are located. The nearby valleys and steeply sloping hills lead down to Lake Garda, which, at 117 square miles, is the largest body of freshwater in Italy. The warm lake breezes interlace with the cool winds of the Lessini Mountains, creating microclimates ideal for growing grapes, olives (Lake Garda olive oil is some of the best), and cherries. In the autumn and winter, the weather facilitates the miracle of the natural appassimento of the Amarone grapes. From a morphological point of view, each valley has a unique structure, but they all have a good amount of clay in the topsoil and a rocky layer five feet below the surface. There are around 1,600 companies that make Amarone and 395 official fruttai for the appassimento process.
Amarone della Valpolicella Vigneto di Monte Lodoletta comes from the cru of the same name, cultivated with extreme care and attention. The grapes are harvested between the third week of September and the first week of October and are then placed in wooden trays or bamboo racks inside the airy drying rooms. These rooms are often located on the top floors of the wineries to make better use of the natural ventilation. The bunches are left in the fruttai for three to four months, under constant watch and rotation. Once they have reached the right level of dryness, or asciugatura, and concentration of sugars, the grapes are pressed. The must is left in contact with the skins for a long time. The fermentation process occurs in wooden barrels, where the must is left to mature for twenty-five months before bottling and the final aging process.
There is no pleasure so fine—at the same time, no challenge so great—as to describe an Amarone of Romano Dal Forno. A pleasure because it is a privilege and joy to describe such an important, almost legendary wine; a challenge because words often do not do justice to the sensations and emotions that tasting a bottle of this wine can ignite. The result of Dal Forno’s exquisite care is “absolute,” statuesque, extreme wine. Dal Forno’s Amarone has a unique personality. It is so highly extracted and high in alcohol (over 17 percent) that one might expect to have to chew, rather than drink, the wine. Although the wine may seem destined to be too big and heavy, it has an incredible grace and an almost silky elegance. Before one can truly enjoy the wine’s nose—composed of dried fruit, sweet spices, herbs, and graphite, just to name a few—the bottle should be uncorked a couple of hours prior to tasting so that the wine can open. In the mouth, the wine is opulent and balanced with a long finish. Monte Lodoletta can be enjoyed young, but is better after a decade of additional aging. The question is, after having made the investment to acquire a bottle, are you really willing to wait to drink it?
IT IS SAID that Valpolicella, the most famous winemaking area of the Veneto and one of the most prestigious in Italy, has both a myth and a legend. If the myth is young Romano Dal Forno, a name fixed in the minds of all Amarone lovers for the extraordinary wine he produces, then the legend would be Giuseppe “Bepi” Quintarelli, the patriach of Valpolicella and a winemaker who for the last half century has made immortal wines. His wines are ultrapersonal expressions that defy any preprescribed discipline or typicity. They are unique and all his own.
More than a winemaker, Bepi is a sculptor: He believes that great wines already exist within great grapes and that the farmer’s only job is to bring them out, or to shape what nature has already created. Like Michelangelo’s approach to marble, Quintarelli molds his grapes into a wine that already exists within. Although this explanation may seem simplistic, or perhaps overly poetic, in reality, there are decades of experience, tests, successes, and failures that support the concept.
Giuseppe Quintarelli was born into a family of generations-old farmers. His father exported wine to the United States beginning early in the twentieth century, and the company recently celebrated its one-hundred-year anniversary of selling wine across the Atlantic (originally, the red wines of Valpolicella traveled across the ocean on ships in 50-liter barrels). In 1924, the Quintarelli family moved to Negrar, a sort of grand cru of Valpolicella, with the highest concentration of great vineyards in the region and, therefore, the highest number of famous wineries. After World War II, Bepi took over control of the company and has since shaped it into what it is today. Shy, humble, patient Giuseppe Quintarelli’s focus is on the important, traditional red wines of Valpolicella, namely, Amarone and Recioto. His wines have become the canon by which all other Amarone and Recioto are judged.
Quintarelli wines are complex, multifaceted, cerebral, enthralling, and much more. There is no better way to get to know Quintarelli than to go and visit the winery in person. But do not expect an avant-garde cellar: There isn’t even a street sign indicating that you have arrived. And don’t think that Giuseppe will be free to explain every detail of the production process or the organoleptic properties of his wines. It is quite possible that he will be busy harvesting cherries and not even give you a nod. (However, shortly afterward, he is likely to guide you through the best wine tasting of your life.) With his wines, don’t pretend to know something about the various vintages: Every wine has its own story. In fact, more often than not, crazy old Bepi only releases his Amarone in exceptional vintages, using the grapes from lesser vintages to make a new wine or blending them with other wines. The prophet of tradition, the master of the Veneto, Quintarelli is not opposed to innovation and experimentation: In his vineyards, you will find cabernet, nebbiolo, and other grapes not native to the region. Grown in the soil of Negrar and touched by the hands of Bepi, these grapes have become extremely veneti, or rather quintarelliani.
Valpolicella is a vast area of land located north of Verona. Traditionally, the local economy was based on agriculture, but in recent years, construction and the growth of light industry are threatening the landscape and the natural biodiversity. Valpolicella is considered one of the nerve centers of Italian economic growth and is being referred to by the economists as “the miracle of the northeast.” Thankfully, there is still room for agriculture, and for winemaking in particular. The recent Amarone boom on international markets has helped producers attract new financial investments. Valpolicella has two hearts: one in the hills of the northernmost part of the region that borders the Lessini Mountains, and the other in the flatlands of the south that extend to the gates of Verona. From an enological point of view, the division exists between the so-called classic Valpolicella and the “larger,” or extended, denomination. The former is located northwest of Verona and, as the name suggests, is the historical center of winemaking in the Veneto. The latter, located to the northeast of the city, is a more recent production zone and is generally considered of lesser regard. Quintarelli is located in the classic area of Valpolicella, Dal Forno in the extended area. Negrar, among the many winemaking zones, is the most appealing and is surrounded by small towns with long-standing winemaking traditions. The Quintarelli cellar is tucked away on the hills of Cerè, a beautiful area of vineyards and olive and cherry trees. In place of street signs, once you have found the road leading to the cellar, you will find a handwritten plaque saying “Prego suonare il clacson” (Please honk). This is the stuff of legends.
Giuseppe Quintarelli’s Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is made from the careful selection of grapes from the vineyards surrounding the cellar, in the part of Negrar known as Cerè. The soil is karstic and without much water, adding to the peculiarity of Quintarelli’s wines and those of Negrar in general. The density of Giuseppe’s plants per acre almost never reaches that of the other great modern winemakers. The grapes he uses to make Amarone are the usual suspects: corvina, molinara, and rondinella. Harvest takes place between the last ten days of September and the first ten days of October, even if the recent changes in microclimate (increased dryness and higher temperatures) have led to earlier harvests. Once harvested, the grapes are placed on mats and left to dry, taking advantage of the natural ventilation of the area in which they are located. The grapes are then pressed and macerated for two to three weeks. The must is fermented until it has just the right amount of sugars and alcohol. The wine is aged in wood for a very long time: To make Amarone—but also to make Recioto—Bepi is willing to wait a lifetime.
All this results in a memorable wine: ruby red with granite tones, which open slowly. Quintarelli Amarone is rich in ripe fruit, spices, herbs, blackberries, and jam. The wine then takes on notes of cognac, rum, and even whiskey. In the mouth, it is huge, chewable, yet enjoyable. It is both sweet and dry, creating a balanced contrast. There is enough acid to guarantee a long, long life. This Amarone is inimitable and unmatchable, one of the greatest wines in the world!
AMARONE, MORE THAN any other wine in the world, is directly affected by human hands. The agricultural vintage and then the drying period are a double jeopardy that every bottle of Amarone must conquer to achieve greatness. When the great producers of the Veneto, like Lorenzo Begali, can master both disiplines, the result is great Amarone.
The history of Lorenzo Begali best represents the evolution of a territory as complex as Valpolicella, the enological heart of the Veneto. The company is relatively new (everything started with Lorenzo’s father around World War II), and until twenty years ago, when Lorenzo took over, the winery was producing decent, but not particularly significant, wines that were often sold in bulk. Following the regional trend of improving winemaking technique, studying the land, and focusing on the needs of the market, Begali released wines that were increasingly more interesting from one year to the next. Today, Begali is one of the most important names in Valpolicella, and his reds, especially Amarone and Recioto, have ranked at the top of their respective categories. Today, Lorenzo’s children, Giordano and Tiliana, are following in their father’s footsteps. Here, the success of the territory was not determined by a grape variety or the combination of variety and terroir, but by human beings and their ability to make the best of what nature gave them.
In Valpolicella, the landscape is a mix of flatlands and hills that are not particularly blessed for quality winemaking. In fact, the territory was at risk of becoming one big cement parking lot, given its vicinity to Verona and the industrial hubs of northeastern Italy. There are no legendary vineyards, and the traditional grapes (corvina, rondinella, and oseleta) are certainly not fantastic varieties. These grapes are hardly known outside the Veneto and are most often blended with other wines. It therefore took research, determination, and time to create a winemaking tradition in Valpolicella. Amarone is the product of technique rather than technology or nature. Although some people may turn up their nose at a “forced” product, Amarone has an extremely clear and well-defined character. It is made from fermenting dried grapes, resulting in a wine that is neither sweet nor dry. However, it is not a “midway” wine, and this is the real miracle: Amarone is an excellent red wine in terms of character, harmony, and elegance. There is nothing like it in the world. Although winemakers are trying to imitate the process in other countries and continents, the original has yet to be beat. Valpolicella has discovered its jewel and has had to learn how to maintain it. It will be important that the quality of the wine remains high and that it keeps close ties to the area in which it is produced. With wineries like Begali, producing only a few thousand bottles from only 20 acres of land, it seems that the level will be kept high.
The cellar of Lorenzo Begali and his family is located in San Pietro, in Cariano, a small town north of Verona, halfway up the road to Lake Garda. The location is in Valpolicella Classica, the heart of the region’s quality wine culture. Like all of the other areas surrounding Verona, San Pietro has both plains and hills. The Begali vineyards are located in both areas, but the best grapes—those used to produce Recioto and Amarone—come from the hills. The family has the good fortune of owning some of the best plots on the hillside of Castelrotto, one of the most promising areas. Monte Ca’ Bianca is another hillside vineyard that is proving to be well suited to native grape varieties. The soil is primarily clay, with a presence of rocks: The area of San Pietro where the Begali cellar is located is called Cengia (“protrusion”), like the rocks found on the hillside.
Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Vigneto Monte Ca’ Bianca by Lorenzo Begali is the modern evolution of tradition. Of course, this is all relative. In Valpolicella, when we refer to “tradition,” we are referring to the region’s recent history. Unlike Amarone, Recioto (a sweeter version of the wine) has been made here for centuries. Amarone as we know it today is a newer wine; however, production can already be classified into traditional and more modern styles (as with any great red wine, depending whether the wine is aged in small or large wooden barrels). Begali is a modernist, and his vision of Amarone is supported by his work in the cellar and the vineyard. In Monte Ca’ Bianca, he blends corvina (40 percent), corvinone (35 percent), rondinella (20 percent), and oseleta (5 percent), all of which are included in his Amarone. After careful selection in the vineyard, the grapes are harvested from the end of September until the beginning of November and are placed in a fruttaio, or storage house, where they are kept to dry until January or February. The grapes are then pressed, fermented, and aged in small barrels.
The wine is kept in wood for four years, then aged in bottles for an additional eight months. The result is a deep and multifaceted wine: On the nose, the wine expresses notes of ripe fruit, no doubt a result of the appassimento (natural drying process). In the mouth, the wine is big, but not excessive, and has both silky and acidic veins running through it. The wine has a really long finish, which is perfectly balanced with the fruit. This classic Amarone will serve as a guiding light for future generations of Valpolicella winemakers.
TOMMASO BUSSOLA WILL tell you that his Recioto is one of the most intriguing Italian sweet wines. Rare and with indefinable elegance and power, his style of wine is born from tradition and necessity, not innovation and fancy.
By 1986, wine was being made in every region in Italy. Practically anyplace that would produce good-quality grapes was covered with grapevines. But if we were to choose a true enological phenomenon of the past ten years, it would have to be Amarone. Until 1996, barely 4 million bottles of Amarone were produced per year. By 2004, production had already risen to 12 million, and in 2006, it reached an all-time high of 16 million bottles. Making Amarone is not a simple task, nor is Amarone easy to drink. Amarone is made from dried fruit and can reach alcohol levels of 16 percent or more. The huge increase in consumption is primarily due to the marketing of the wine and the region. Few people know that Amarone is actually a by-product of another wine called Recioto, which is made in the same part of the Veneto using the same grapes: corvina and rondinella. Recioto is a sweet dessert wine with residual sugar levels easily reaching 100 grams per liter. Before modern technology came along, sweeter wines could age for longer periods of time than wine with less sugar. Compared with the dry red wines of the area, which had to be much more stable if they were to last through the years, the high levels of residual sugar in Valpolicella wines preserved quality longer. Before the advent of sulfites and many of the other physical and chemical techniques that are now available to make winemaking much more simple, Recioto was really the main wine of this area. Now the production is in the hands of some of the great masters of our time who have contributed enormously to the increasing quality of the wine. The production of Recioto didn’t increase exponentially like that of its “younger brother,” Amarone. It is very complicated and expensive to make Recioto. Additionally, it is equally as complicated to reach a large market and ultimately too expensive to compete on a global level. What we have, therefore, is a rare wine, reserved for special occasions.
Tommaso Bussola is the son of peasants who had very little property to their name. He began working in 1977, at a very young age, at his uncle Giuseppe’s winery. The first years of his apprenticeship were dedicated to unraveling the secrets of the land and, above all, mastering winemaking in the appassimento (natural grape-drying) style. Only in 1983 did he decide to take the big step of beginning to grow grapes on his own property. He began to apply the same philosophy that he learned from his uncle, but at the same time he began to experiment with some new techniques. Around ten years passed before Tommaso decided to create his own cellar and began barrique-aging his wines for the first time. Tommaso’s more modern wines are labeled with his initials, TB, while the wines produced in the traditional manner bear the initials of Tommaso’s uncle, BG. Bussola’s wines captured the attention of international wine critics, starting a new chapter in the life of the winery.
Valpolicella is one of the most celebrated terroirs in all of Italy. It is located to the northwest of Verona and is flanked by the Adige River on the west and the Lessini Mountains on the north. The heart of Recioto production is centered in the zone of Valpolicella Classica and comprises the comuni of Marano, Fumane, Negrar, Sant’Ambrogio, and San Pietro in Cariano. Some of these give rise to the three main valleys of Fumane, Marano, and Negrar.
As mentioned previously, Recioto is a rarity in the Italian wine world. It is certainly a wine that is born in the vineyards, but the more delicate phase of its inception occurs during the drying process. This step takes place on mats, which are placed in the area where the best grapes are grown and specifically selected for the production of this wine. The fruit needs to be selected with extreme care because during the production of Recioto, the grapes need to dry for a long period, usually around seven months. During this time, the grapes must not get moldy. The area is very humid, so to help dry the grapes, winemakers use fans and dehumidifiers to prevent the risk of losing an entire harvest. After these seven months, the grapes can finally be pressed and made into wine. Fermentation often lasts more than fifty-six days and occurs at 57 degrees Fahrenheit. The complexity and cost of the production of Recioto are best expressed by one fact: 40 pounds of grapes are needed to produce 1 liter of this wine! By the end of fermentation, the wine has an average of 260 grams of sugar or more per liter. The wine finishes its time in the cellar in French barriques for an additional thirty months. The resulting wine is not easy to describe because of its complexity. On the nose, there are clearly notes of chocolate, fruit preserved in alcohol, and cherry jam. In the mouth, there is an explosion of taste and sweetness, balanced by firm tannins and sugar that cleans the palate and leaves an impression of great complexity.
SOAVE IS a noble wine made from what many consider to be a slacker grape varietal, garganega. At its best, Calvarino can become a honeyed nectar, with a firm mineral grip and a classic peachy sweetness that is typical of Soave.
When talking about the great wine Soave, the conversation inevitably turns to the Pieropan family: Leonildo and his wife Teresità. Their commitment to quality wine production helped save and reestablish the reputation of a wine zone that was awash with supermarket-quality products.
The Cantina Sociale di Soave cooperative dominates at 80 percent of the local annual production, and produces inexpensive wines by working with economies of scale. In the co-op system, farmers are paid by yield. Overcropping results in diluted wines that are devoid of any sense of terroir and lack individuality and regional character. The Pieropan family has countered these trends by producing single-vineyard Soaves that can sit on the tables of great restaurants and age in cellars along with the greatest white wines from around the world. Top Soaves join a limited crew of new Italian white wines that evolve in complexity and become better with age.
However, Soave’s reputation as a cheap white wine can be traced back to the Italian economic boom of the 1950s and ’60s, following World War II. Pieropan was up against strong consumer prejudice when he set out on his mission to create a great Soave, as most people thought of Soave as a simple, characterless yellow water. Leonildo Pieropan and Teresità decided to focus their attention on improving the quality of their wine by lowering yields to one-third that of industrial winemakers. The price of their wines ended up being significantly higher than that of their competitors, but in the end, the winery’s positioning proved successful, and wine-loving Italians started to have a renewed interest in Soave.
Leonildo, “Nino” to his friends, is generally quiet and reserved. However, when Nino senses that there is someone passionate about wine in his presence, he will easily open up to talk about his two favorite subjects: the terroir of Soave and his wines. And if you are very lucky, he will invite you to one of his famous vertical Soave tastings: Even his ten-year-old vintages have remarkable minerality, freshness, and perfume. In recent years, Nino and Teresità’s two sons, Andrea and Dario, have joined them in the winery. With the increase in employees, Nino decided it was time to grow the company, and in 2003 he purchased 25 acres of land in Illasi, part of the Valpolicella area. His new vineyard was planted with native grape varietals: corvina, rondinella, and croatina. In the future, the Pieropan name will also stand for a great red wine, which, at least in the beginning, will not be an Amarone because the vines are too young. Over the years, the winery has grown to produce 400,000 bottles annually. Compared with their magnificent Calvarino, the Pieropan Soave Classico La Rocca, which is aged in different-sized wooden barrels for twelve months, is a little less fresh, but richer and fuller bodied. Their bestseller is their basic Soave, which in terms of the price-to-quality ratio can’t be beat.
The Pieropan winery is located in the center of downtown Soave, in the fifteenth-century Palazzo Pulici. By climbing the two sets of stairs inside the palazzo, you arrive at a terrace that looks out onto the Soave hills. From here you can see the historic Pieropan vineyards: La Rocca is located behind the walls of the castle of the medieval city, and Calvarino is to its left. Calvarino is one of the most famous crus in Soave, thanks, for the most part, to Leonildo Pieropan. The Pieropan winery owns 18 of the 74 acres that make up the cru, and their property is divided among separate parcels, all of which get excellent exposure to the sun. Calvarino is located at the base of Mount Foscarino, at 330 to 500 feet in elevation. The soil is rich in clay and silt, in addition to a good amount of calcareous sediment. The name Calvarino comes from Mount Calvary, where Christ was crucified, and is a testimony to how difficult it must have been for farmers to work on its steep slopes. The land was purchased in 1901 by Leonildo’s grandfather, who was also named Leonildo. Until the 1970s, Calvarino was not planted exclusively with grapes, as it is now; there were also fruit trees that provided sustenance to the local farmers. The hillside has been terraced to deal with the steepness, and the grapes are grown using a unique training system known as pergola veronese. Leonildo was the first person to prune his plants to have branches, or shoots, on both the left and right sides. He also trims his vines back quite heavily. At the beginning, Pieropan was considered totally crazy for letting bunches of grapes fall to the ground before harvest, but his training and pruning system have paid off.
I decided to focus on Calvarino, rather than on Soave La Rocca, for one very simple reason: Calvarino is a clearer, more pure expression of Soave because it is not aged in wood. The aromas and flavor of the wine reflect the spirit of the terroir. This wine is aged in stainless steel and cement and has impressive aging potential: A bottle of 1986 Calvarino can easily be enjoyed today. The wine is known for its minerality and perfumes of warm, wet earth and mountain musk. The wine also has an acidic, fresh vein. Over time, the wine develops salty, marinelike notes, as well as those of citrus and hazelnut. In the mouth, Calvarino is fresh, but never heavy, even in the hottest vintages like 2003. After a decade, Calvarino ages with grace and can be enjoyed after years in the cellar. Some of the top vintages to look for are 1996, 1986, 1985, and 1978.
A MODEL SOAVE and truly terroir-driven wine, Soave Classico Monte Fiorentine is a wine that recalls with startling clarity the characteristics of the place where it was produced. Elegance and clarity prevail in this wine, a Soave made for modern times.
The charming town of Soave is a lovely little hamlet dominated by a medieval walled fortress. Tucked behind the city is the hilly region where the best vineyards are located, most of the Ca’ Rugate vineyards among them. Perched atop the Rugate hills, the grapes are cultivated traditionally, using both the pergola veronese and the Guyot training systems. The land is basaltic, rich in clay and silt. The main grape grown here is garganega, and though its origin isn’t clear, it grows as well as any indigenous varietal in this part of the Veneto. Garganega is a very productive and fairly disease-resistant grape that, for a long time, was planted by farmers looking to produce large quantities of wine. Only recently have winemakers focused on the quality of the grape in the vineyard, which they do by increasing density, pruning the vines, and using more modern training and trimming systems. Garganega also produces good results when dried: Recioto di Soave (an excellent version of which is produced by Ca’ Rugate) is an emergent sweet Italian wine. Made for generations, the sweet Soave, like the dry version, has improved in quality only in recent years.
The increase in quality is due in part to the dynamic entrepreneurs and capable communicators of the Tessari family, fathers of Ca’ Rugate. The name of this Veneto-based company has circulated widely in various countries and continents for the past twenty years. Yet in spite of its far-flung fame, the winery remains firmly entrenched in the traditions of its home in the Soave terroir and in the history of the Tessari family, who made it what it is today. It all began in the early twentieth century with Amedeo Tessari, who owned a small osteria (inn) that retailed wines, including his own. In the 1980s, Amedeo’s son, Fulvio, expanded the operation and increased productivity, giving birth to the commercial family winery Ca’ Rugate, which they named after a cottage in the hills out of which the winery first operated. Fulvio’s sons, Amedeo and Giovanni, later joined the team at Ca’ Rugate. Today, though the cellar has been relocated into a new and more functional building, the winery is still very much a family-owned and -operated business: Young Michele Tessari, who recently started working for the family, is the fourth generation of Tessaris in the wine profession. In four generations—a mere century of activity—the Tessari family business has grown from a provincial osteria to a supermodern winery with 124 acres of land able to produce almost half a million bottles per year.
Along with the growth of the winery came the growth of the entire region of Soave; unfortunately, the latter’s growth was not as consistent, nor as well managed. To some degree, Soave fell prey to nearsighted winemaking politics that, in the past decades, caused production to balloon without any attention paid to quality. For a while, Soave was popular plonk, inexpensive and easy to drink. The vineyards, often located in the best parts of the plain near the Milano-Venezia autostrada, did not impart any special qualities to the garganega grapes, long considered a second-tier variety. Ca’ Rugate, however—along with a few other ambitious wineries in the region—reversed the trend of quantity over quality, working with academic institutions to study the land and exploit particular aspects of the terroir while controlling others. They also acquired new techniques and technology—a necessity for white wine production. In just a few years, they were able to achieve what hadn’t been done for decades. They discovered that garganega could be considered one of the noble native Italian grape varieties, able to rival friuliano (formerly tocai) in Friuli, verdicchio in Marche, and greco or fiano from Campania. Soave turned out to have great potential in terms of terroir. The rest of the progress came as a result of investments and courageous winemakers, who were willing to create a brand that continues to be popular in Italy and abroad, but that has shed its negative image for one of quality and excellence.
Having now found its home at the top of wine rankings for years, Soave Classico Monte Fiorentine is one of Italy’s great white wines. (Ca’ Rugate also produces an admirable Soave called Monte Alto, which is aged in wood.) Monte Fiorentine has uncommon grace, lightness, freshness, and unbeatable harmony. The wine is made solely from garganega grapes harvested from vineyards with a small percentage of volcanic rock in the soil, which is able to give the grapes and the wine an additional touch of minerality. The grapes are harvested late in the season, around mid-October. The yield does not exceed 8,000 pounds per acre—a surprising figure compared with the 13,000 to 18,000 pounds per acre typically obtained by larger wineries. Fermentation occurs in stainless steel tanks at 60 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit and continues for ten to fifteen days.
Soave Monte Fiorentine is dark straw-yellow in color. On the nose, the wine has an extraordinary freshness, intensity, and harmony: There are notes of minerals, exotic fruit, citrus, and sage. In the mouth, the wine is round, juicy, and fragrant. Despite never having seen wood, this wine has body, well-balanced acidity, and structure. The long finish reveals aromas of fruit and the wine’s great complexity.