About Roccolo Grassi
Roccolo Grassi is a small family estate in Mezzane di Sotto, in the eastern valleys of the Valpolicella, started in 1996 when Marco Sartori began bottling the family's grapes under the name of their best vineyard. Fourteen hectares across Mezzane and San Briccio are farmed with organic and biodynamic methods, fermentations run on yeasts selected from the estate's own vineyards, and production stays near fifty thousand bottles. The style pairs concentration with freshness, using shorter drying for Amarone, and the range keeps whites serious too, with a Soave and Recioto di Soave beside the Valpolicella Superiore, Amarone and Recioto della Valpolicella.
Prices are for take away and shipping. The wine bar serves from its own list.
The winery
About Roccolo Grassi
History
Roccolo Grassi is a family winery in Mezzane di Sotto, in the Mezzane valley, province of Verona. The company dates its wine production to 1996. Today Marco and Francesca run it together with their father Bruno, and the winery presents itself as a small family business with a clear idea of what it wants in the glass.
The land and the vineyards
The estate farms about 16 hectares of vines in the Val di Mezzane, at 200 to 300 metres above sea level (the winery home page quotes 17 hectares owned). Around the vines the farm keeps 2 hectares of woods, 1 hectare of olive groves and a number of fruit trees. The family treats this mix as a small ecosystem that helps the vines give healthy, good grapes.
In the vineyard each plant is pruned with attention, and yields are held down so the fruit can reach full ripeness. The family says its starting point is to understand the land, the surroundings and the grape variety, and to let those three shape the wine.
The wines
The range is short and follows the two appellations that meet around Mezzane. On the white side there are Soave Broia and Recioto di Soave. On the red side there are Valpolicella Superiore, Valpolicella Superiore Valfresca, Amarone della Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella.
The winery says it wants wines with character and personality, wines that carry the stamp of their territory and can grow in the bottle with age. It makes a limited number of bottles, and the quantity changes from one vintage to the next.
Today
The cellar is in Mezzane di Sotto, a few steps from the vines, and the family keeps the focus on grape quality over volume. It is a good house to look at when you want Valpolicella and Soave from a small producer that farms its own land.
- Founded
- Wine production since 1996
- Vineyards (hectares)
- 16 to 17
- Owners
- Marco, Francesca and Bruno