Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico “Ravazzol” 2018
Wine Description
Ravazzol is Ca' La Bionda's Amarone from the hill of the same name above Marano, where vines of fifty to seventy years grow in stony clay limestone soils at 200 to 300 metres. The blend is 70% Corvina, 20% Corvinone and 10% Rondinella and Molinara; yields are held to five or six tonnes per hectare and the grapes dry on traditional arelle racks until late January or early February, losing about 40% of their weight. Fermentation runs on indigenous yeasts, malolactic happens in wood, and the wine then spends 36 months in 30 hectolitre oak casks plus eight further months in bottle.
At 16% it stays surprisingly agile for Amarone: dried cherry and plum, orange peel, sweet tobacco and fine grained tannin with the cool herbal edge typical of Marano. Serve at 16 to 18 °C after an hour in the decanter, with braised beef in Amarone, pastissada de caval, or aged Monte Veronese; the 2018 will develop for many years yet.
Winery
Ca' La Bionda was founded in 1902 by Pietro Castellani and is now run by the fourth generation, the brothers Alessandro and Nicola Castellani, winemaker and viticulturist. The estate farms 29 hectares around Marano di Valpolicella, in the high heart of the Classico zone, with vineyards between 150 and 300 metres facing east and southeast. Certified organic since 2016, the house works only with native grapes and traditional methods: indigenous yeasts, patient macerations and large oak casks. From the Valpolicella Classico up to the Amarone Ravazzol, the wines are among the most terroir driven in the appellation.
