In Which We Open Our Winery to You…
Verona is a graceful region: the resplendent villas, the blissful shores of Lago di Garda, and the ghosts of Shakespearean drama in city streets and squares. Verona is also one of Italy’s quintessential wine regions. The Veneto and Alto Adige flatten (at least from the perspective of the severe altitude of the Alps) into rolling hills of volcanic soil. It is easy to grow things in Verona. An uncautious vintner might easily find herself with an overabundance of grapes leading to very poor wine. As a result, the region is famous (infamous) for Soave, a middling, plonktastic white wine best left from whence it came, in the supermarket aisle, circa 1986.
Leave behind the tacky, big-haired spoilage, and there is a world of pert and rosy Bardolino; bold and raisinated Recioto; and above them all, powerful and opulent Amarone di Valpolicella. Traditionally, Amarone is a blend of three indigenous Italian grapes: Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, and Molinara. All three are robust, thick-skinned grapes that are generally impervious to the colder weather and frequent late frosts of Verona. They take their time on the vine, ripening in late autumn. It is not unheard of to find Amarone grapes that have been harvested in mid-to-late November. These grapes also take well to raisination. Dried fruit is added to still-ripe fruit and then the pressed juice is “passed over” (appassimento), resulting inValpolicella ripasso. Masterful examples of Amarone can be found from such producers as Masi, Zenato, and Tommaso Bussola. But there is one name that stands out among the others. Like Angelo Gaja in Barbaresco or Robert Mondavi in Oakville, there is il padrone of Amarone, the king of Verona wines. There is Giuseppe Quintarelli.
In the heart of the Valpolicella Classico region, atop Mount Cà Paletta near the town of Negrer, the Quintarelli family has been growing wine (along with olives and cherries) for more than a century. Silvio Quintarelli founded the business at the turn of the twentieth century. He exported Valpolicella wines to the United States before Prohibition in small oak casks. In the 1950s, Silvio handed his operation to Giuseppe. The son took over the winery with a much different, sometimes quixotic, vision.
Giuseppe Quintarelli demanded perfection and the utmost quality from everything he produced. The glass bottles had to be the best. The cork for bottles had to be flawless and expertly formed. And then there were the grapes. When his neighbors were growing Corvina and Garganega for insipid bottlings to flood the market with juice, Giuseppe did the opposite. He let the unripe grapes hang on the vines deep into the year, waiting for optimum ripeness. He was not above harvesting a minimal amount of only the best fruit, prizing the quality of his Corvina Veronese over the quantity that could be brought to market. Giuseppe demonstrated to his neighbors - and the wine drinking world - that a low-yield, naturally produced, long-aged Amarone di Valpolicella was a thing worth pursuing, and worth the wait. Giuseppe Quintarelli, known to his close friends and family as Bepi, embodied that great virtue of the Italian farmer: pazienza.
Bepi did not stop his revolution with Amarone. He applied his vast knowledge and methodology to a Bordeaux wine called Alzero. A blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, Alzero is crafted with the same appassimento method of harvesting the grapes only when they have reached full maturity and then leaving them to raisinate until mid-December before crushing and fermentation. The wines are aged in large-format French and then Slovenian oak for several years before bottling. Bepi approached this wine with the same uncompromising mindset and dedication to tradition above all else. The result is a unique wine that is as delightfully complex as it is rare.
Quinterelli has become a watchword for quality at its highest level; for the unequivocating power of tradition; and the belief that time and patience are just as important as terroir. Giuseppe Quintarelli passed away in 2012 at the age of eighty-four. In his New York Times obituary, those wine writers and vintners noted not just his audacity, creativity, and influence, but that he was among the last - if not the last - of his kind to journey the road of tradition in Valpolicella. While not an anachronism, Quintarelli wines are dinosauric, wise, and deeply complex. A Quintarelli wine is a rare treat to be savored in a world of largely ephemeral pleasure. The Wine Press is proud to offer the following selections for purchase.
Giuseppe Quintarelli, Bianco Secco Cà del Merlo
Luscious, powerful, and spicy. This is a white wine with abundant textures and lasting depth of flavor. It begins with an attack of lemon and grapefruit before softening with peach blossoms and white flowers. There are secondary notes of mint, fennel, vanilla pod, and a creaminess that will only develop with age in the bottle.
Giuseppe Quintarelli, Primofiore
A deep ruby color in the glass, the bouquet is assertive with spice, black cherry, currants, and violets. There is a lively minerality in this wine, coming from the volcanic soils of the Verona hills. Enjoy decanted with a board of aged cheeses, or allow it to age 5-10 years for maximum mature pleasure.
Giuseppe Quintarelli, Rosso Cà del Merlo
Intense ruby red in color, with a bold nose that speaks to the raisination of the grapes. Dark fruits, abundant textures with a heavy tannic lift. This wine is complex and subtle, and the experience will change in the glass from start to finish.
Giuseppe Quintarelli, Alzero 2014
Powerful, opulent, and complex. There are notes of vanilla, cocoa, and dark toasted spice. The fruits are ripe but mature. This wine will open up beautifully in the glass over time, and reveal an abundance of secondary and tertiary notes.
The Wine Press specializes in fine and rare wines, and we are happy to take custom orders to find the perfect bottle for you. Please reach out to us at 617-277-7020, come in to the store seven days a week, or email eric@winepressbrookline.com with all inquiries.
‘The winery must always be open to anyone who arrives and you must always be there to welcome visitors.' ~ Giuseppe Quintarelli
