Giriamo a Valpolicella

September 19, 2018

Mom, Kati, and Witten at Madonna della Corona

Valpolicella makes five different wines from four different grapes. The grapes varieties are: Corvina, Veronese, Rondinella, and Molinara. The five types of wine are: Valpolicella Classico, Valpolicella Superiore, Valpolicella Ripasso, Amarone, and Recioto. Each of these types of wines is tightly controlled and regulated. Valpolicella Classico is made from grapes grown in the original Valpolicella production zone. Valpolicella Superiore must be aged for at least one year and must have an alcohol content of at least 12%. Amarone is made from partially dried grapes, and must be composed of certain ranges of percentages of Corvina, Rodinella, and other approved red grape varieties. The word “Amarone” means “the great bitter” in Italian, and was initially used to distinguish it from Recioto, which is its sweeter cousin. Ripasso is Valpolicella Superiore that is passed over the partially dried skins left over from fermenting Amarone and Recioto.

The first item on our itinerary for the day was to hike up to Il Sanctuario di Madonna della Corona, which was built into the mountainside and can be reached by climbing approximately 1,500 stairs from Brentino Belluno. Everyone but me nixed the plan to hike up those stairs while we were at breakfast, but agreed to dropping me off at the bottom of the stairs and then driving up closer to the top, so we could meet up at the church. Fate, however, stepped in because I couldn’t find the bottom of the stairs to save my life. Thus, we decided to all drive up the mountain to Spiazzi and make the 20 minute walk down to the church together. The roads were treacherous, but there were dozens and dozens of bikers going up the mountain with us! It was a stunning drive and we arrived in Spiazzi around 11:00 a.m. The stairs up are used as a pilgrimage and are adorned with bronze renditions of the stations of the cross. We were privileged enough to see stations 8-15. As I told Kati, the stations of the cross don’t often do anything for me, but seeing them on this cliff side, in bronze scenes was incredibly moving. Interestingly, there was some lady on the walk down to the church that raised alpacas and was selling scarves and other garments made from their fur.

The Holy Steps

Madonna della Corona did not disappoint! It’s absolutely on my list of top ten churches I’ve been to in amazing locations - right up there with the Ostrog Monastery in Montenegro and the Rila Monastery in Bulgaria. It was truly stunning. There was a small church built right into the rocks, lined with confessional booths that overlooked the vase expanse below. To the side of that church was a stairway of 28 short, marble stairs that were designed for the devout to climb on their knees while contemplating the suffering of Christ and flagellating themselves (seriously). At the top of those stairs was another great little chapel with some stunning stained glass windows. And that wasn’t even the main church! There aren’t words sufficient to describe this place and its setting. If it was intended to be a location to instill faith in the faithless, it certainly accomplished its goal!

After spending a little over an hour at the sanctuary, we loaded back up into the car and started our descent to Fumane for lunch. The location that I had picked out - Enoteca della Valpolicella - is renowned for its food, and for having a wine list of over 700 different wines! It was quite a lunch. My mom and Kati started with plates of ricotta-stuffed zucchini flowers, while my dad had a sampler plate of salami, and I opened the meal with an amazing beef tartare, all of which we paired with a nice Valpolicella Superiore. Kati and I both got tortellini with duck, squab, and guinea fowl. My dad had the same, but with porcini mushrooms instead of birds, and my mom got some really lovely ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and white mountain spinach. Those dishes were paired with a really outstanding Ripasso from a local biodynamic winery in Fumane. After trying that wine, that winery became our next stop.

Azienda Valentina Cubi was only a mile from the Enoteca. It is a very small family owned estate that is organic certified. We had actually eaten lunch right next to one of the ladies who worked at the winery, which was pretty neat. She was entertaining their danish distributors. Despite not having a reservation, we got a tour of the winery and tasted five of their wines, plus a bonus because we had already tried their Ripasso at lunch. The Classico was good and the Superiore was excellent. We also got to try two of their Amarone - one from 2007, right before they became organic certified, and the second from the first year after they became certified. I liked the older one, but Kati preferred the crunchy organic one. Their Recioto, which I had never had before, was also phenomenal. The last wine that we tried was a weird one, a mix of Sangiovese and the typical Valpolicella grapes. None of us particularly cared for it. The others, though, provided a wonderful slate of wines to represent the region. We also got to hang out with the vintner and owner of the winery, which was really cool. I asked her for some recommendations that we could go to next, and got a varied list that spanned the entirety of Valpolicella. We picked out a close one that she highly recommended as a small, but outstanding producer.

Tenute Ugolini Estate

Finding Monteleone was challenging, and ultimately unfruitful. The gate was closed, but my mom and Kati walked up and eventually got to speak with the owner, who said that they were open, that they did do tastings, but that she had somewhere else that she needed to be that afternoon, so she couldn’t accommodate us. Alas, we decided to go to another winery that the Enoteca had recommended and that was on the drive back to our hotel - Tenute Ugolini. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a more gorgeous estate in my life. It’s another small, family-owned winery. They have five vineyards spread across Valpolicella, each of which is devoted to making one of the region’s famous wines. The lady working at the winery was initially terse and cold, but warmed up quickly and gave us a really wonderful tour of the family’s home (which is also the base for their operations). We had a table right on the veranda overlooking the vineyards and the rows of cypress trees lining the gravel drive up, and got to taste all of their wines, except for the Recioto, which they was unfortunately out of stock.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing around Ca’ dei Maghi and sipping wine. Witten hadn’t taken a nap, and refused to take one when we got back, so Kati and I decided to put her down early. Luckily, the outside patio for the restaurant was within range for our baby monitor, so we just set it up on the dinner table and had a pleasant, baby-free meal, coupled with a bottle of Ca’ dei Maghi’s Amarone.