Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC “Casalvegri” 2021 – MAGNUM

Casalvegri is Ca’ La Bionda’s single vineyard Valpolicella Classico Superiore, from the site of the same name on the slopes above Marano, and it is the bottling that best explains the estate’s belief in place over technique. The blend is 70% Corvina, 20% Corvinone and 10% Rondinella and Molinara, farmed organically at altitude; after fermentation the wine ages eighteen months in 3,000 litre oak casks, large enough to season without flavouring.
It drinks like a cru Burgundy built from cherries: red and black cherry, violet, white pepper and graphite over fine tannin and a long saline finish, with none of the weight of dried grape wines. Serve at 16 to 18 °C, opened half an hour ahead. Try it with roast guinea fowl, bigoli with duck ragù, or anzoloti of braised meat; it rewards a few years of cellaring too.

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.