Italy, Veneto, Negrar
Grapes: 55% Corvina and Corvinone, 30% Rondinella, 15% Cabernet, Nebbiolo, Croatina and Sangiovese.
Amarone is only produced in exceptional years. In years considered average in quality the wine is declassified and bottled as Rosso del Bepi. In those years deemed unworthy there is no production of Amarone or Rosso del Bepi at all.
The grapes are selected with great care at the time of harvest, brought into a conservation room and left to rest in wooden boxes and on rush matting. It is very important that the grapes are positioned correctly so that the passerillage raisining can take place in a complete and natural way. The first sign of “noble rot” appears at the end of November - beginning of December and develops mostly in the month of January. Pressing begins at the end of January and after 20 days of maceration, the alcoholic fermentation begins, thanks to indigenous yeasts. This fermentation takes place very slowly and lasts for 45 days. Afterwards the wine is racked and placed in medium to small Slavonian oak barrels where it matures for seven years. During this period more alcoholic fermentations take place which produce a dry wine of extraordinary structure and elegant complexity.
(RP=95) The 2005 Rosso del Bepi is made with the same blend of grapes found in the Valpolicella Superiore. Only in the case of this wine, the entire mass of fruit sees a four-month appassimento cycle. The wine is aged in large oak casks for eight years. A severe hail storm in 2005 reduced yields. The fruit was good in that vintage, but not good enough to become Amarone. All that potential got locked into this wine instead. Despite its age, the Rosso del Bepi offers surprising freshness and crispness with delineated tones of dried cherry and pressed rose. This wine has more decades of cellar aging locked within.