Color: Dark, rich red

Bouquet: The nose is extremely intense with cherry liqueur, black fig, plum sauce, chocolate, spices, wood, barn, mint, Asian spice, Mediterranean scrub, and crushed-rock minerality.

Palate: Balanced acidity belies the richness of the natural sugars dominated by black-cherry, dark chocolate, herbs, spice, black pepper and a light mineral finish.

Alcohol: 17%.

Sugar: 2 G/L.

Serving Temperature: Chilled 16/18° C (60°/64° F). Decant the wine and serve it in oversized glasses to collect all of its aromas.

Pairing: Braised or grilled pork or beef, hearty meat or game dishes, Fiorentina beef steak, roasted and stewed wildboar, pheasant or duck breast with a fruity sauce, Asado Argentino, foie gras, Parmigiano Reggiano, Cimbro di Rosmarino e Salvia, Monte Veronese, Ubriaco, Pecorino Vecchio, aged Gouda, Gorgonzola, Stilton, Roquefort and Danish blue.

Location: Massimago estate, Val di Mezzane valley (Eastern Valpolicella).

Soil type: Mezzane di Sotto – Limestone, clay-marly soil.

Elevation: 300-400 meters (1,200 feet) a.s.l.

Exposure: South-West.

Density: 5,000 plants/hectare.

Training System: Pergola and Guyot.

Production: 6600 bottles

Vinification: Once the grapes have been carefully selected by hand, are placed in flat wooden trays and left to dry for 100 days in our special fruttaio (drying barn) where humidity and temperature are strictly controlled. After the grape crushing the maceration lasts for more than 20 days. The alcoholic fermentation is very slow and runs for 30 days. Malolactic fermentation takes place in 20 hectolitres French oak barrels in our cellars which lays deep in the rock below our house.

Aging: 30-months in wood and a further 12-months in the bottle before release.

Process and experimentation: Massimago limits the use of sulphites. Every year we start new experiments with the Oenology departments of the Universities of Milan and Conegliano (Padua).