“Il Conte” Rosso Veronese IGT 2015

Il Conte is the top red of Ca’ dei Conti, a dried grape wine from a single hectare at Tregnago, 400 to 450 metres up on limestone marl with full southern exposure. Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Marzemino and Teroldego grow beside Regent, Cabernet Volos and Cabernet Eidos, three disease resistant varieties the family planted to cut spraying, at 9,000 vines a hectare and about a kilo of fruit a vine. The grapes dry until March, macerate a month at 8 °C and ferment slowly for two months, then spend four years in French and American barriques on the fine lees and a further year in bottle. The wine is almost black, 18 degrees of alcohol with 7.5 of acidity behind it: cherry and strawberry over dried fruit, licorice, cocoa and spice, deep and very long. Serve at 16 to 18 °C with grilled and roast red meat, game and hard aged cheese, or after the meal on its own.

Ca’ dei Conti is a small family winery at Tregnago in the Val d’Illasi, on the eastern edge of the Valpolicella zone. Founded by Renzo and Loredana Rancan, brother and sister, it farms high hillside vineyards with southern exposure on lean calcareous soils, planted densely at up to 9,000 vines per hectare. The house works with a clear eye on the environment, replanting old Veronese varieties such as Croatina and Oseleta alongside disease resistant Piwi vines that cut the need for treatments; it is a member of FIVI, the federation of independent growers, and appears in the Slow Wine guide.