A couple of days is the absolute minimum for a major Italian wine region – in the case of Veneto, in passing from Alto Adige to Bologna or Tuscany or on the way from Milan to Venice and the Adriatic – but four days would be better. this is the least it would take to enjoy the complexity of Amarone, one of the most distinct of the big Italian reds, strongest in alcohol content. It is all about complexity, from grape blends to the extra step of drying the grapes – this in itself can take up to 120 days – to the unique taste on the palate. It is about aging too: considered suboptimal when younger than about 7 years, it is often at its best when held for up to ten, and can be enjoyed after over 20 years of ageing. This makes it a meal by itself, perfect with a cracker or Gorgonzola cheese without requiring real food, complex enough to be a perfect cooking wine, for steak and risotto alike. It blends many grapes, thanks to less prescriptive regulations compared to other regions, lending itself suitable to a memorable tasting with lots of scope for learning and discovery. Amarone might be the unsung hero of the premium wines of the peninsula: with a shorter history, it remains less well known than the two great Italian varietals – Barolo gets the title of the King of Wines and Brunello wins in popular appeal – and is only the most noble of Veneto’s wines. There are plenty of lesser wines traditionally made in the area – Reciotto, Ripasso, Valpolicella among the native reds and Soave, the noble local white. Increasingly, transplants from far and wide – including Merlot and Chardonnay – are being adopted for the area’s appassimento drying methods employed to concentrate the taste, with interesting results. This is in part what allows this wine to age so beautifully, often demonstrating a change in character after ten or so years from ripe, juicy fruit to the cliches used so often – of tobacco, leather, coffee, chocolate, and whatever else wine critics like to mix in to describe the perfection of a maturing wine, dignified and sophisticated on the palate. Other products commonly made by the winery owners include their very own take on grappa and extra virgin olive oil, and local cheeses and honey are never too far. But this is also a fascinating area, quaint and historic – it holds its own in sightseeing value and R&R opportunities despite having no major ‘must-see’ objects or destinations – it best lends itself to a slow and gradual discovery.
But even if you ignore the lesser reds, Amarone alone offers so much potential to discover due to relative lack of standardization in the region and extreme diversity of local varietals considered suitable for blending. The requirements – that the blend contain at least three individual grapes and that 45% of the blend be given to the Corvina grape – leave significant headroom for creativity, even if only four or five grapes feature prominently across the region’s producer labels. Richer blends are not uncommon, with some producers using up to eighteen varietals. And while this long tail of overly complicated Amarone blends presents a daunting challenge of keeping up with all the information and results in diminishing returns – at most you would be able to taste three to five grapes – this richness of opportunity promises plenty of scope for enjoyable exploration. The mix varies from producer to producer and from vintage to vintage as the winemakers experiment with viticulture techniques, so the blend of grapes seems to be constantly evolving. The midsize, violet Corvina, known since the early 1600’s, and the large, soft and blue Corvinone, discovered in the 1700’s but less widely known outside the trade, together usually make up from two-thirds to 80% of the blend. The abundant, resilient and universally liked Rondinella accounts for 10% to 30% of the total. The remainder – what used to be mostly the transparent, smooth, and savory Molinara – takes as little as 5% and up to 10% of the total in the traditional Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara formula. This residual left by the main three grapes can be filled by a number of lesser local varietals. The compact, miniature, colorful Oseleta and the Croatina have been popular, although the former suffers from low yields. The delicate Dindarella/Pelara, the colorless but conducive to drying Forsellina, the Rossignola, the Teroldega, and of late, the Negrara/Terodola grapes are also used. And even the transplants with household names like Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Sangiovese are increasingly blended in very small proportions into the Amarone mix. That said, some producers eliminate this confusing residual altogether, leaving the blend pared down to the regional association’s mandated minimum of three grapes. A good wine steward at one of the valley’s tasting rooms – event at Villa Serego Allighieri‘s relatively commercial and easily discovered Masi counter – will happily enlighten you, a busy chart in hand, about all the ins and outs of the latest combinations and permutations of varietals used at their and neighboring estates in their Amarone mix.
The broader Valpolicella wine country happens to be among the most artisanal areas in Italy, with established but not broadly socialized gastronomic traditions, its wines impeccably matching the local foods. From the large-scale Masi by Boscaini family and the commercial Tommasi to the near-perfect Bertani and Allegrini, to the exalted Giuseppe Quintarelli and Romano dal Forno, at least 60 family-owned cellars of interest operate in the Valpolicella Classico, Valpantena, Mizzole, Marcellise, and Mezzane valleys. These cellars happily take visitors by appointment. Challenge yourself to do more than one tenth of that in the two days you have allotted to this region. The region counts 21 consortia of producers – a total of 2,000 registered companies associated with the wine trade – across its 19 communities. But to have ‘Classico’ on its label, the wine has to come from the eponymous valley occupying roughly one-third of the Valpolicella demarcation in the region’s extreme West, restricting it to just five of the 19 communities – Sant’Ambrogio, bordering Lago di Garda beyond its Western edge, San Pietro in Cariano, Fumane, Negrar, and Marano, which stretches up into the Lessinia mountain foothills. Plains in the valley’s southern part, hills in the northern, all bounded on the South and West by a 90-degree bend of the Adige river that flows from the Alps into the Adriatic. The five communities eligible for the ‘Valpolicella Classico’ label are spread over three individual valleys: Fumane, Negrar, and Marano, bearing the names of their main municipality. Due to a combination of seriously geeky, overused and dubious factors – like terroir, elevation, soil, sun, and of course a carefully orchestrated formula that governs the selection of the mix of grapes for the blend, and in this case, the nuances of the grape drying process – the wines of the Fumane valley tend to be softer and with less tannin, those of Negrar fuller body, richer, more austere, and with greater aging potential, and those that hail from Marano more aromatic, while the wines of the neighboring Valpantena valley are known to be fresh and well-structured. But I am oversimplifying, and here it is particularly dangerous, the exceptions – due to variations in climate, harvest, and the blend itself – will from time to time swallow the rule. More importantly, throughout my decade-plus-long fascination with the region and its product, I have yet to find a bottle of local Amarone Classico I truly disliked, and I have tried to find one, believe me.
The hierarchy of local geography is also of note, each of the five domains branches out into subordinate towns and satellite villages – don’t be surprised to see Pedemonte or San Floriano as qualifiers under San Pietro in Cariano – just as Gargagnano as a locality within Sant’Amrogio, Abrizzano within Negrar or Torbe within Marano – in a local address. The locality in this hierarchy is really little more than a village in a bend of the local road. While nearly every locality offers appealing villas, interesting parishes, inviting parks, and even hiking trails, local nuance is important as some of the towns – Gargagnago, San Florian, Castelrotto, Molina – may simply be prettier or slightly more historic than others. The five communities and their towns are fluid and spaced closely enough that the road joining them becomes a street – no need to buckle down for a long drive in between. A corridor of parish churches, obscure museums, winery properties, and vineyard gates that either face the road or have their back to it. This built-up and semi-urbanized yet still rustic topology is very much the opposite of rural Tuscany or rolling hills of Piemonte where hillside vineyards make up vast spaces between medieval hilltop towns. And many of the properties encountered here simply while driving – they would absolutely embellish some of the cities North of the Alps – are celebrated as part of the country’s architectural patrimony. Just recognize that you are in the countryside, and as great as Wayz and Google Maps are, do get an old fashioned paper map of the valley – not to defy the GPS-enabled navigation of the digital age but sometimes locals simply know better – from the front desk of a bed and breakfast, not necessarily yours, or from the gift shop of one of the larger wineries, or from a local trattoria. You are going to need one that has all the right layers – the roads, the villas, the wineries, and the eateries – and doesn’t skip a step in the mountainous terrain.
Italy’s hospitality scene discovers San Pietro in Cariano and its historic villas. The community famously hosts Villa Serego by Palladio, now owned by the Santa Sophia estate, which steals the show. But a true, and still hidden, gem is Villa Giona, a 16th century winged masterpiece of near-palatial quality, previously used by the Allegrini wine family of Villa Della Torre for special occasions but less than two years ago converted to a bed & breakfast. It sits in the Cengia and Castelrotto locality For what it’s worth, a recent reading of mid-May occupancy with just three out of eighteen rooms occupied witnessed first-hand – during what effectively is almost the peak season but not quite – suggests most had not yet gotten the message, and the price tag of EUR 120 a night certainly confirms it. This secluded bed and breakfast on a gated estate in the middle of Valpolicella is old world charm at its best: relaxing, peaceful, and perfect, with living quarters and the surrounding landscape in harmony, and atmosphere second to none. It offers dignified period interiors on the ground and first floors, spacious rooms with comfortable beds, antique furniture, and spectacularly high ceilings. Well-maintained, orderly, formal Italian gardens in front and behind Villa Giona – stunning in their symmetry and axial geometry, dotted with beautifully restored sandstone statuary, and anchored by fountains – add a unique backdrop to the excellent breakfast on its balustraded patio or at outdoor tables with umbrellas planted among the statues. The property, surrounded by vineyards, contains the manicured, the rustic, and the untamed – take a walk around, and you will even see swings and a chicken farm of sorts on the property – and hosts a quaint wine tasting room next to the villa and, a short hike up some steps at the top of a small hill, more guest rooms, still waiting for the guests, tucked away behind the bright blue of the outdoor infinity pool. Enjoy the unexpected view over a skyline of belfries and roofs of exceedingly picturesque Castelrotto and San Pietro in Cariano. I would return to Villa Giona any time and for any number of nights, to soak in the scenery in disbelief at the closeness of my surroundings to what ought to be real perfection.
Do yourself a favor and try not to limit yourself to the Valpolicella Classico valley – there is no moat, no steep mountainside serpentine to get through, you will not have to tame high altitude overpasses, these are hills at best – Valpantena, the picturesque valley immediately to the East of your temporary home in the Classico valley, stretching from North to South just above Verona, is just as interesting. If for no other reason that the town of Grezzana and its Villa Arvedi, easily the most beautiful formal garden setting of all estates here, are located there (I would not expect it to be open other than for special occasions but perhaps you can get access to the gardens and peek through the gate, well worth it). On the way there, convenient and Instagram worthy stops in Negrar‘s San Peretto locality include Villa Poiega, aka Villa Guerrieri Rizzardi, owned from mid 1600’s by count Rizzardi. Check out its smart and somewhat upscale eponymous wine shop and tasting room. The terraced 18th century Italian gardens behind the villa – among the most impressive in their serenity, their 13 acre expanse, their richness of landscape, containing a variety of niches, statues, grottos, a temple, a theater, a belvedere, a green theater, and plenty of nooks and crannies in between. It is easy to stay in the shadow of the region’s great reds – but you don’t have to, just 20 min East by highway, past Verona in the direction of Vicenza, a spectacularly scenic wine country produces the best local whites. At a minimum, plan to visit the Eastern hills of Verona, the Soave country in the Mezzane, Illasi and d’Alpone valleys – it is one of Veneto’s, and Italy’s, and in fact, Europe’s, largest wine producing areas, and happens to be dedicated to the golden Garganega grape, but also to Trebbiano, and now Chardonnay. Main points of interest, including a monumental hilltop Castello di Soave, its picture-perfect village and vineyards stretched below. Illasi is home to the blatantly monumental early 17th century Villa Pompei Sagramoso of palatial proportions surrounded by an 18th century park.
My multivariate analysis of Amarone wineries produces a rather simple shortlist of properties to visit. The footprint of the producing families usually goes beyond one vineyard, one cellar, or even one valley, but their flagship winery – which usually functions as a bottega and a cantina for tasting and purchase – tends to be in a signature property of historic value. Negrar‘s Abrizzano, closest to Verona, is home to Bertani‘s wine tasting room: their mesmerizing Villa Mosconi-Bertani is an absolute must-see, one of the area’s oldest cellars, and architecturally – to me at least – the most interesting wine property in the region. In Fumane, just before the start of a serpentine road you won’t really need to take, you will find Allegrini‘s bed & breakfast, tasting room, and cellar at their captivating Villa della Torre, the oldest among Valpolicella‘s winery villas. Sant’Amrogio holds its own, with a wine tasting room by Boscaini (Masi) at the somewhat touristy Villa Serego Allighieri, it was purchased by Dante’s son – if you do not learn anything else while here, the fact that one of the main exponents, in fact, founders of the Renaissance was exiled to Veneto could be a legitimate topic for a cocktail party conversation – and to this day remains property of the descendants of the great Florentine poet of the 13th century. In Pedemonte, on either side of the main road, you will find the vineyards of some of the area’s most interesting producers: Tommasi at their Villa Quaranta, Tedeschi at their historic estate, Speri, and, last but certainly not least, Santa Sophia in the eclectic Villa Serego. The latter is a partially completed expansion of a 14th century structure by Andrea Palladio in mid-1500’s – known as the master’s most unusual work, it combines the influences of Giulio Romano, the Gonzaga court architect of Mantova of the 1500’s, Michele Sanmicheli, Verona‘s chief architect of the same period, and the older Villa Della Torre up the road in Fumane – and features double-height perystile with heavily rusticated colonnade, topped by uncharacteristically classical volutes and an ornate frieze under a sloping tile roof. I would also try to get on the calendar of the wineries by Cesari and Quintarelli. My selection filter? Since some wine businesses in the area have been around for four centuries and some wine cellars for the last two, the age of the cellar is one of the criteria, although lack of age is not a disqualifier for me. But the attributes of the wine itself, the architectural aspect of the estate, and the wine maker’s story – and there is always a story – are also important. And if you wish to acknowledge a fellow North American family for having the courage to fulfill their lifelong dream of settling in Italy, acquiring a vineyard with a period villa, and starting a winery, you can do that by paying a quick visit to Lucia Raimondi’s picturesque Villa Monteleone property in Sant’Amrogio‘s Gargagnano next to the Masi vineyards. I would just keep my expectations in check, for now.
Buglioni is a wine family that knows how to make it easy to explore its properties – Alfredo Buglioni is a relative newcomer to the wine industry, a pivot that followed his success in clothing. For an amazingly fresh and very local lunch, try Osteria del Bugiardo, although I am not suggesting their central Verona restaurant. Their convivial Pedemonte location – it is called Osteria del Liar but don’t expect many online reviews – is easy to find on the main SP4 road. Act like you are headed towards Abrizzano but at the roundabout, formed by the T-shaped intersection with SP12, turn North instead – towards Negrar – but slowly, the bottega will be immediately on your left, in what misleadingly looks like a mini strip mall. The restaurant-show room-tasting counter is a welcoming and easy-going space, brightly lit on two sides, full of different vintages and formats for sale, and is quite design conscious – they bring out freshly baked bread in individual paper bags, their glassware is top notch, and one entire wall is covered with aphorisms and witty observations on yellow stickers, marking the way to the washroom in the back. Stop here for a long, lazy lunch with a bottle of white – the Amarone, Valpolicella, Ripasso and Recioto reds are not the only option, a local Il Disperato, Bianco delle Venezie or a nearby Soave should be really enjoyable with Buglioni‘s fresh pasta and lasagna cooked incomprehensibly close to perfection, their horse meat salad – it tastes better than it sounds – and the cheeses. Dimora del Bugiardo, their winery relais, is a nice hospitality and food option, also of note is their Cantine Buglioni on Via Compagnole, leading in the direction of Corrubio, roughly half way between Villa Giona in San Pietro in Cariano and Villa Serego Allighieri in Pedemonte.
Among the most popular is the mid-16th century Villa Della Torre, the oldest of the major wineries in the region and famous for its unique camini mascheroni, the immense and grotesquely expressive fireplaces, carved out of stone to resemble a face of a monster, each room boasting a different one. Villa Della Torre houses a beautiful and quite reasonably priced bed & breakfast, and is home to the tasting room of the Allegrini family. The family has successfully leveraged its unique production footprint – two estates in Tuscany and one in Valpolicella, straddling the most harvested of Italy’s 800 or so grape varieties and the country’s most sophisticated blend – to create esoteric Amarone blends that also include a Sangiovese (a regular ingredient in Super Tuscans, where it typically has a large share, the Sangiovese grape plays a lesser role in the Allegrini‘s Amarone blends, taking a back seat to the Corvina and the Rondinella). The complex, a 16th century replacement of the preexisting Palazzo Maffei on the same site, is modeled after an Imperial Roman villa. While traditionally attributed to the usual top masters of the region, Giulio Romano of Mantova and Michele Sanmicheli of Verona, the two names represent an obvious but low-conviction pick by the historian community, ready to be proven otherwise at any point. Open by appointment for a private guided tour and tasting, quite informative and affordable, it is highly recommended: the history of the estate and its architecture are certainly worth the time and the damage. Especially since, unlike other Veneto villas, laid out by design to be as open to the surrounding countryside as possible, this one stands enclosed, or closed in on itself, the greenery of interior courtyard and the back lawn, the tree-lined walkway, the axially aligned succession of portals, the perystile, the grottoes, the statues, the octagonal chapel, and the fish pond, all thoroughly hidden from view. You are going to want to get inside the fence.
I don’t believe one can be truly disappointed with food and wine here without applying a major effort – no matter which osteria or trattoria you settle on, the risk is to the upside, especially if you don’t expect much – and how would you possibly ruin an Amarone risotto, or turn your nose on any of the wines from the valley? Local pasta, lasagna, risotto dishes – all world class – are blatantly inexpensive, even in the nicer trattorias that cater to discerning locals, as you will see. Just wait until the first bite sends you, dumbfounded and basking in the flavors, searching for that dinner menu page to check again and make sure – no, you did miss a ‘3’ or a ‘2’ in front of what you thought was the price, and there was no zero after the number either, nor was there any disclaimer about half-portion, and this was not a kids’ menu either – that the plate of the best pasta you have ever had did in fact just cost you EUR 9! All the same, here are a few recommendations – just keep in mind that opening hours tend to be strange, especially around Sundays, challenging on Monday evenings and Tuesdays all day – check first, whether you are looking for lunch or dinner. And keep in mind that dinner is served early, and kitchens do not stay open very late – it would suck if you ran out of food in the middle of a gastronomic paradise.
We were blown away by Trattoria I Caprini, a quaint and very simple two-story country eatery in Marano‘s hilltop town of Torbe, after a 10 min in the dark up the winding road that seemed to disappear into nowhere. Recommended kindly by Giovanni Bertani himself towards the end of our three hour long visit – I think he might know a thing or two about where to eat locally – this superficially unremarkable and unassuming place with barely a shingle outside happens to be a century-old family business, now in its fourth generation. The homemade food here – to paraphrase our chef, ‘simple looking but not easy to make’ – was among the best I have had in Italy, and like most things hospitality, food & wine in Valpolicella, served at comically low prices. This is one of those places where the person who greets you, takes you to your table, then waits on your table is the same person who cooks your food, at least some of it, and he is also the same person who delivers the bad news that they happen to be out of this or that ingredient, and therefore will not be in a position to supply the dish ordered. Ours was a great host, generous with his time and not stingy on insights into local cooking and opinions on Italian restaurants in NYC. After an assortment of exceptional pastas, risottos, and whatever else our host/maitre d’/waiter/chef suggested – unfairly underpriced, unless the restaurant was on a mission to reverse some unexplained market share losses to its neighbors by dumping excess inventory, but somehow I doubt that was the case – and a couple of glasses of profoundly enjoyable Speri Amarone, picked from a nearby vineyard a decade earlier, we had to cork the 2007 bottle to finish it back at the villa – we were treated to a private guided tour of the Trattoria’s wine cellar and its small collection of 200 local Valpolicella labels, memorabilia, pictures, autographs. Perhaps a call placed by a distinguished winemaker himself helped secure this special treatment, but I would recommend this place to anyone. Mid-meal I had a chance to come up for air – lifting my head from the colorful plate was not easy, I was practically bathing in the delicious flavors – and saw the upper floor dining room around me, shamelessly empty when we walked in, now filled to capacity. Filled with locals, at least on that night – I did not hear any other language spoken, and the host seemed to know most of his guests – or so it seemed. It does not hurt that, as it turns out, in September 2009 Guardian in its “50 Best Things to Eat in the World, and Where to Eat Them” named Trattoria I Caprini the world’s #1 place for pasta, one of the 50 food categories featured in the article. World’s best pasta, no less, and for a total of EUR 9 a plate. Or as part of a EUR 30 four course menu, which along with an assortment of hand rolled pastas also included Amarone braised beef cheeks. Enough said. Ask me if I think the place is worth the drive.
Our most authentic lunch experience, albeit against low expectations, was at Antica Osteria Paverno, a great find, and the only eatery in Marano‘s Valgatara locality, half-way between San Floriano and Marano on the North-South road and between San Pietro in Cariano and Negrar. We stumbled on this simple roadside establishment – contemplating whether to cross over into Valpantena or proceed to Soave while desperately trying to avoid an argument in the car after a visit to Villa Poiego gardens – at an obscure, unremarkable a T-shaped intersection in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the hills of Negrar or Marano, at least that’s how it felt. Next to the unassuming building, a dusty, vine-covered outdoor patio was occupied by what looked like workers from the nearby Tommasi vineyard, eating. I bet, a daily occurrence. No English was spoken by the wait staff, which consisted of one old lady: she gestured that they had just run out of most of the ingredients – this was a late lunch – and therefore few things can be ordered off the menu. Not a problem, I thought, their selection of Amarone by the glass was exceptional. Moments later she came back and pointed to a risotto she was now able to produce. I don’t believe I had ever tasted anything quite like it, an Amarone risotto of perfect consistency, served in a deep, handmade bowl of baked cheese, sculpted out of melted and hardened parmigiano – or possibly pecorino, or maybe another one of the hard Italian cheeses. Juxtaposition of the crust of the bowl and the creamy risotto added texture to the powerful tastes of the full body wine and the bitter cheese. This was homemade cooking redefined and, needless to say, super cheap, despite cases of pricey bottles dutifully displayed inside the fireplace and on the mantle above it, a feature that should feel quite out of place but somehow blends in with the rustic interior of stone and wood.
This area has quite a few good informal, traditional food and drink options, after all this is Northern Italy, and more importantly, a wine region known for taking its culinary side seriously. Ristorante Valpolicella by Zantedeschi family still in Negrar on the way to Trattoria I Caprini has been around for fifty years and comes with a few. Locanda dal Nane in San Pietro in Cariano has been serving delicious Veronese food, mouthwatering, colorful and perfectly complementary to the Corvina grape of local reds and Garganega grape of the whites, for 65 years. Trattoria Alla Porchetta in Negrar boasts a 60 year history and comes equipped with a cantina tasting room lined with local wines. Trattoria Ca Dei Maghi in Fumane‘s Ca’ Coggi, Enoteca Della Valpolicella, and Osteria N1 Cafe Wine Bar, all in Fumane, are also good options, as are Antica Osteria and Osteria Da Bepi in Marano and nearby San Rocco, and Osteria Della Pieve at a bed & breakfast in Sant’Amrogio.
