Guerrieri Rizzardi

The grapes for this wonderful Soave Classico come from the cru sites in front of the Castello di Soave and on the Costeggiola hill, a very hilly terrain with a silty-sandy texture, rich in active limestone and volcanic rock. Floral and delicate notes of fresh yellow fruit. Dry on the palate, beautifully expressive and very precise with a lively freshness. A very appealing everyday wine with a lovely drinkability. SUPERIORE.DE

Keya is the impressive result of several years of experimental work, resulting in a rosato from 50-year-old vines that perfectly expresses the style and personality of the Rizzardi vineyards in the hills above Bardolino. The label is a tribute to the Venetian heritage of Contessa M.C. Loredan, who ran the winery for many years and was instrumental in making Chiaretto Bardolino a popular wine classic in the region. The name is derived from the first two syllables of Chi-a-ret-to (KEY-A).

XVII – the Roman seventeen honours the century in which the Rizzardi family acquired its first vineyards in Negrar in 1678. Since then, the house has cultivated the best vineyards in the Classico zone – pojega, Calcarole, Rovereti – on calcareous clay soils in the hills above the plain. Corvina and Corvinone form the backbone of this cuvée, with Rondinella, Merlot and Croatina providing the accents. Bright purple red in the glass. Shadow cherry and black pepper on the nose, with a hint of cherry blossom and Mediterranean herbs. Round and juicy on the palate, with an invigorating freshness and an earthy, herbal finish. Proof that Valpolicella has depth and character even without Appassimento – and an ideal introduction to the world of Guerrieri Rizzardi. SUPERIORE.DE

In any other cellar it would be a disaster: Amarone that turns to vinegar. In the Rizzardis' cellar in Negrar, it is a family tradition – and one that is older than any wine in the house. The "madre", the vinegar mother, dates back to the beginning of the last century: a living organism that has been absorbing and transforming every new Amarone vintage for over a hundred years. For ten years, the vinegar travels through ten barrels of descending size – of oak, pear, apple, cherry and almond. Each wood leaves its signature, until in the end a concentrate is created that blurs the boundary between flavour and wine.

A wine that was voluntarily relegated. Munus was the flagship among the Bardolino red wines from Guerrieri Rizzardi – a Bardolino Superiore DOCG, Italy's highest classification level. Since 2021, it has borne the seemingly more modest title of Rosso Veronese IGT. Not out of negligence, but out of conviction: The DOCG required at least twelve months of wood in each vintage, and Giuseppe Rizzardi decided that the wine should dictate the ageing process – not the regulations.

Behind the Castello di Soave, invisible to the tourists enjoying the view of the plain, lies a vineyard that epitomises the opposite of what Soave has been for decades. No mass product, no compromise. Ferra is single-varietal Garganega from volcanic gravel – of a hilltop that has belonged to the Rizzardi family since 1977 and has been bottled as a single vineyard since 2014. What makes this Soave stand out from the standard, pleasing wines: Garganega gets the full stage here. Fermentation in glazed cement tanks preserves the mineral precision, while six months in large foudres give the wine texture, depth and richness that go far beyond what is expected from the appellation.

In the 1820s, wine merchants knew three Bardolino crus that existed in Switzerland's grand hotels alongside Burgundy and Beaujolais. In 1968, they were lost in the DOC regulations. They have been back since 2021 – and Montebaldo, the northernmost and highest subzone on the foothills of Monte Baldo, is perhaps the most exciting. Guerrieri Rizzardi's response to this rediscovery: 95 per cent Corvina – the highest percentage the winery has ever bottled –complemented by a touch of Rondinella, vinified completely without wood. This is not a concession to light summer enjoyment. It is a statement about transparency: the grape speaks exclusively here, and the moraine soil of Cavaion gives it a resonance chamber.

Pojega is a historic vineyard next to the famous Pojega garden, which was purchased by the Rizzardi family in the 17th century. The single-vineyard Valpolicella skilfully combines the fruitiness and increased aromatic richness of the traditional grape with a well-proportioned body and extraordinary finesse. Great value with an almost magnetic attraction! SUPERIORE.DE

Before there was Soave, there was this wine. In the fifth century, the Roman senator Cassiodorus praised a sweet wine made from dried grapes at the court of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric – acinaticum, the original form of what is now called Recioto di Soave. Fifteen hundred years later, in 1998, it became the first Venetian wine with DOCG status. And yet very few people know it. The story has been reversed: Amarone, which originated in the 1930s as a "runaway" Recioto – a barrel that accidentally fermented through –became a world star. Recioto, its ancestor, remained in the shadows. Guerrieri Rizzardi's version comes from old pergola vines in Costeggiola, planted between 1960 and 1998 on volcanic gravel. Only a third of the harvest is deemed worthy of drying in fruttaio for three to five months – a selection within the selection.

The first year of production of the single-varietal Merlot Clos Roareti dates back to 2004. The grapes are harvested from the 2 hectare historic Rovereti vineyard in Negrar. In this 100-year-old vineyard, which is surrounded by equally old walls, Merlot has been cultivated since the 1990s and is perfectly adapted to the climate and the red clay soil. The palate is rich and full-bodied with complex and very aromatic notes. Maturation in oak barrels gives this wine its special flavour and certain opulence. SUPERIORE.DE

The same triad – calcarole, Pojega, Rovereti – and yet a completely different wine. Where the 2019 offered warmth and richness, the 2021 is more about precision and classic contours. The April frost noticeably reduced yields, but what followed was a gift: a summer in which temperatures never exceeded the critical 33-degree threshold for Corvina. The vines ripened steadily, without heat stress, with cool nights that preserved acidity and flavour. The subsequent appassimento in the historic drying rooms of Pojega took place under ideal conditions – dry, cool and even. The winemakers of Valpolicella simply call 2021 "l'annata perfetta".

The Rizzardi family has been cultivating the hills of Pojega in the heart of Negrar since 1649. What began as a vineyard became, over generations, a place where landscape and wine merge inseparably – the famous Giardino, the Teatro di Verzura, the villa itself. From the south-facing plots of this historic cru comes an Amarone Riserva that is only produced in vintages deemed worthy of the family. However, the fact that 2020 is one of them is anything but self-evident. Because 2020 was a testing year. Sunny spring, heavy summer rains, heat and coolness in constant alternation – valpolicella demanded experience and sensitivity. The old Corvinone vines in Pojega in particular, late-ripening and deeply rooted in the chalky clay, produced grapes of unusual concentration from the climatic contradiction. On its centenary, the Consorzio spoke of wines with "strong personality and remarkable balance" – at Villa Rizzardi, this hits the nail on the head.

Basically, Calcarole is not a vineyard. It is a limestone rock. A terraced massif above the Villa di Rovereti in Negrar, exposed to the south-west, rising to 230 metres – the warmest single vineyard in Valpolicella Classica and at the same time the origin of the most elegant Amarone produced by Guerrieri Rizzardi. The secret lies in this contradiction. Six parcels, planted between 1986 and 2000, are predominantly planted with Corvina, supplemented by Barbera and Sangiovese – varieties that hardly thrive in Valpolicella, but on the hot limestone of Calcarole contribute precisely the freshness that counterbalances the solar concentration. It was this vineyard that produced the first Amarone ever to be honoured as Gambero Rosso's "Vino Rosso dell'Anno" in 2009. Since then, Calcarole has received the Tre Bicchieri in nine out of eleven vintages.