VALPOLICELLA

Corvina

Born in the Valpolicella zone, this is a “star” in the Verona area. The name seems to derive from the resemblance in the grape colour to the plumage of a crow (corvo).

CHARACTERISTICS: appreciated especially for its inherent colouring substances, for its concentration and for its excellent suitability for drying to produce fortified wine, it gives Valpolicella wines their unmistakable hints of cherry and plum. It produces a wine of ruby-red colour, fairly full-bodied, with good acidity and considerable tannin structure.

PLANT: a vigorous vine, featuring good productivity, not always constant.

BUNCH: medium sized, cylindrical pyramidal with wings (often long), rather compact.

GRAPE: medium, blue-violet skin, bloom consistent. SOIL: this vine is suited to the lightest soils and best-exposed land.

RIPENING TIME: start of October.

Rondinella

It is very likely that this variety arrived in Veneto at the end of the XIX century. Its name seems to come from the dark skin which recalls the plumage of the swallow (rondine).

CHARACTERISTICS: the wines obtained from its fruit are less full-bodied than those of Corvina, with a less intense ruby-red hue, but with floral, winey fragrances of great elegance and a less tannic structure.

PLANT: a vigorous vine, it features a good and constant yield.

BUNCH: medium pyramidal, with one or two wings, fairly compact.

GRAPE: medium, rich bloom on skin, purplish-black, medium sized, consistent.

SOIL: this vine is suited to more clayey soils, less exposed to sun.

RIPENING TIME: end of September.

Corvinone

Long identified with the name Corvina Veronese grossa, it has only recently been given its own ampelographic classification, and in 1993 was inserted into the national Catalogue of vine varieties for wine. The name comes from its almost black colour, recalling the crow’s plumage.

CHARACTERISTICS: in the gentle hills below the Veneto region’s pre-Alps, with severely controlled and limited yields, Corvinone gives its best results, producing a ruby-red wine with intense fragrances, fruity and sometimes spicy, with good softness, body and tannicity. When Corvinone is cultivated in the valleys at lower altitude or on the plain, it produces big harvests and the large berries absorb and hold water. These are not the features of a good wine vine. It differs from the Verona Corvina in particular for the shape of its bunches and its late ripening time.

PLANT: this vigorous vine has good productivity.

BUNCH: large, pyramidal, compact and with one or more wings.

GRAPES: large, oval with thick skin, bloom of dark blue hue, especially suited to drying. SOIL: this vine is able to
yield excellent production results especially on hillside sites, with lean, well-exposed land.

RIPENING TIME: end of September.

Molinara

This vine type had to be classified as a Veneto variety of Valpolicella until the Regulation of Production was modified in 2003. The name derives from the great amount of bloom on the berries, making them seem covered in flour from an old mill (mulino).

CHARACTERISTICS: it gives rise to a wine that is weak in colour, pale pink, but sapid and strong in the mouth. Much appreciated for the mineral hints and acidity which it brings to wines, it is useful for the production of rosé wine.

PLANT: it is a vigorous vine, with a good and constant yield.

BUNCHES: of average size, pyramidal with two short wings, appropriately sparse.

GRAPE: medium, with reddish-purple skin, rich bloom.

RIPENING TIME: second half of October.