Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico 2020 – MAGNUM
Bibenda 4 Grappoli
Wine Description
Valpolicella Classico Superiore is the daily face of Santa Sofia, offered here in magnum, and it keeps the same classical hand as the house's Amarone. Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella from the Classica hills make a mid weight red of fresh cherry, plum skin and a light peppery bitterness; the superiore designation means riper fruit and a year of rest before release, as the appellation rules set out. It is the wine Veronese families drink while their Amarone waits, and there is no better test of a house's honesty.
The magnum holds two bottles' worth, pours a dozen glasses and matures more slowly, which makes it the right format for a long table rather than a cellar trophy. Serve at 16 to 18 °C, lightly cool, with bigoli with duck ragù, fegato alla veneziana or soppressa and polenta; no decanting needed, just a little patience in the glass.
Winery
Santa Sofia has made wine since 1811 at Pedemonte di San Pietro in Cariano, in cellars built under and around a Palladian villa raised for Marcantonio Serego in 1565. The Begnoni family bought the house in 1967 and still runs it, farming 69 hectares in three areas, Montegradella in the Valpolicella Classica, Briago in the Valpantena and Pozzolengo near Lake Garda, for a production of about half a million bottles. The interpretation is openly classical: measured Valpolicella, patient Amarone and the cru Gioè at the top of the pyramid, wines made to age and to sit at the table.
