Valpolicella Superiore “Profasio”

Every autumn at Massimago the finest Corvina goes up to the drying loft to become Amarone. Some of it never makes the trip.  Camilla Rossi Chauvenet sets aside three parcels of that same Amarone-grade fruit — Le Macie, Le Giordane, I Crachi — and makes this instead. No drying, no raisining, no sweetness. Whole fresh grapes, more than two weeks on the skins, then a year and a half in large French and Slavonian casks.

The result is Valpolicella with Amarone’s pedigree and none of its weight. Black pepper and fresh cherry, wild berry, a lift of mint and rosemary off the hillside. Bone dry — under two grams of sugar. Organically farmed on red clay and limestone between 250 and 400 meters above the Val di Mezzane.

Appellation: Valpolicella Superiore DOC

Type: Red, dry.

Blend: 65% Corvina, 20% Corvinone, 15% Rondinella