About Tenute Ugolini
Tenute Ugolini is a family estate in the Fumane valley, one of the historic townships of the Valpolicella Classica between Verona and Lake Garda. The family has held land here since the grandparents' generation and today farms 22 hectares of vineyard around Villa San Michele, the old colonial house on the San Michele hill, where rows of vines share the slopes with cherry and other native trees. The range stays close to home: Valpolicella Classico Superiore from the San Michele hill, a ripasso called Monte Solane and the Amarone Classico Valle Alta at the top.
Prices are for take away and shipping. The wine bar serves from its own list.
The winery
About Tenute Ugolini
History
Tenute Ugolini is a family estate in the Fumane Valley, in the Valpolicella Classica area near Verona. According to a profile of the estate, the story as a bottler starts in 1996, when Giambattista Ugolini took over the family business after the death of his father Angelo. Until then the family's grapes had been sold to other producers. Giambattista chose to vinify them himself, and the first Valpolicella and Amarone to carry the Ugolini name were made in 2010.
The estate is owned by the three brothers Giambattista, Davide and Tiziano Ugolini. Over the years they bought more vineyards in the Fumane Valley and at Villa San Michele in San Pietro in Cariano, which is now the company's base.
The land and the vineyards
Five vineyards add up to about 22 hectares: Pozzetto, which is the historic one, then San Michele, Monte Solane, Valle Alta and Valle Lena. They are planted with the native Valpolicella grapes Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Molinara and Oseleta. The vines have been certified organic by Icea since 2016.
The family also tends about 7,000 square metres of olive trees in the Fumane Valley. They make three extra virgin olive oils, named after the plots Pozzetto, San Michele and Valle Alta.
The wines
Each wine takes the name of the vineyard it comes from. The range includes Valpolicella Classico Pozzetto, Valpolicella Classico Superiore San Michele, Valpolicella Ripasso Monte Solane, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Valle Alta and Recioto della Valpolicella Valle Lena. A small bottling, Valpolicella Classico Superiore San Michele della Chiesa, comes from eight rows of vines around the church of San Michele and is made only in chosen years. A second collection called Magna Mòra completes the nine labels.
Today
Villa San Michele, an old farmhouse on the Bure hill, has been open to visitors every day since 2014, after a long restoration. It holds tastings in several rooms and in the garden, and the estate offers vineyard and cellar visits, walks in the Fumane Valley, and a tasting that pairs each wine with an opera aria. Ugolini is also listed among the founding members of Terre di Fumane, a shared drying facility for the grapes used in appassimento.
- Vineyards (hectares)
- About 22
- Main grapes
- Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Molinara, Oseleta
- Owners
- The Ugolini brothers: Giambattista, Davide and Tiziano