Monte Santoccio AMARONE Della Valpolicella Classico DOCG 2010

Monte Santoccio

Monte Santoccio is located in Fumane, Veneto, Italy. It is a family-run winery, so they can effectively control the grape growing process. The owner, Nicola Ferrari, understands that it is necessary to control the winemaking process, that is, to have his own winery, to control the winemaking process by himself, and to make good wine. It still controls the annual output of no more than 30,000, and its wine is extremely precious in Asia.

Valpolicella is one of Italy's oldest and most precious wine regions, and it can be said to be as famous as Chianti, Barolo, Brunello, and other wines. From its etymological meaning, Valpolicella, "Val polis cellae" means "a valley with many cellars". It is located west of Veneto, between the city of Verona and Lake Garda, with the Lessini Mountains as a natural boundary in the north. The area at the foot of Mount Verona belongs to the Alpine system. Valpolicella's geographical pattern is complex, but generally, it is composed of cascading mountains, gentle hills, and river valleys. The surface is mostly covered by vineyards, olive, and cherry trees.Valpolicella's original development area, Valpolicella Classico, is 610 meters above sea level due to its high altitude. It is still the main production area of ​​high-quality Valpolicella, mainly in the following five villages: Sant'Ambrogio, San Pietro in Cariano, Fumane, Marano, Negrar, etc. The soil is mainly composed of calcareous soil formed in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with a mild climate and an annual rainfall between 900 and 1100 mm. This area is not only famous for its many small river valleys with fast-flowing water but also the ancient cultural heritage can be seen everywhere. It has the most historical monuments in Italy except for Rome. You can see ruined churches and Renaissance villas everywhere. And other characteristic buildings of different periods. Since 1968, when Valpolicella was recognized as a DOC-level appellation, due to the increasing demand for wines in the market, it has expanded from the Bardolino border (west) to the Soave large production area (east), located in the north of Verona city.

Corvina

Corvina is an Italian wine grape variety that is sometimes also referred to as Corvina Veronese or Cruina. The total global wine-growing area in 2010 was 7,495 hectares (18,520 acres), all of which are grown in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, except for 19 hectares (47 acres) planted in Argentina. Corvina is used with several other grapes to create the light red regional wines Bardolino and Valpolicella that have a mild fruity flavor with hints of almond. These blends include Corvinone, Rondinella, and Molinara, and Rossignola for the latter wine. It is also used for the production of Amarone and Recioto.

Rondinella

Rondinella is a wine grape variety from Italy. Almost all of the total global growing area of 2,481 hectares (6,130 acres) is in the Veneto region of northern Italy, and the grapes are used in wines from the Valpolicella and Bardolino wine regions. Rondinella, along with Corvinone and Molinara, is always present as a secondary constituent in these wines blended with Corvina (which DNA evidence has shown to be a parent variety). The grape has rather neutral flavors but is popular among growers due to its high yields. The vine is very resistant to grape disease and produces grapes that, while not necessarily high in sugar content, dry out well for use in the production of Valpolicella straw wine styles such as Recioto and Riserva.

Molinara

Molinara is a red Italian wine grape that accounted for 595 hectares (1,470 acres) of planting land in Italy as of 2010, almost entirely in the Veneto region. It adds acidity to the wines of Valpolicella and Bardolino, which are made from Corvina, Corvinone, Molinara, and Rondinella blends. The wine's high oxidation proclivity, combined with its low color extract, has caused a decline in popularity and plantings among Venetian vineyards, with plantings falling by more than half in ten years from 1,301 hectares (3,210 acres) in 2000. There has been some disagreement over whether the grape is purple or blue. This grape is occasionally blended with Merlot to produce soft, elegant rosés, and Molinara is responsible for 122 hectares (300 acres) of vineyards.

Corvinone

Corvinone is a red Italian wine grape variety native to the Veneto region of northern Italy. In 2010, a total of 930 hectares (2,300 acres) of the grape growing area was planted worldwide, with 930 hectares (2,300 acres) planted in Italy and 1 hectare (2.5 acres) planted in Argentina.  Corvinone, which is rarely found in wine alone, is blended with Rondinella, Molinara, and other autochthonous varieties in Corvina-dominant red wines from Veneto's Valpolicella and Bardolino regions. Corvinone is so similar to the more common Corvinone variety that it has historically been mistaken for a clone; indeed, its name in Italian suggests the meaning "large Corvina." However, more recent ampelographic research and DNA profiling have revealed a distinct variety.

Veneto - the most famous of the 3 major producing regions in northeastern Italy

Veneto is a substantial and increasingly important wine region in the northeastern corner of Italy. Administratively it forms part of the Triveneto zone, along with its smaller neighbors Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In terms of geography, culture, and wine styles, it represents a transition between the alpine, Germano-Slavic end of Italy and the warmer, drier, more Roman lands to the south.

Veneto is slightly smaller than Italy's other main wine-producing regions – Piedmont, Tuscany, Lombardy, Puglia, and Sicily – yet it generates more wine than any of them. Although the southern regions Sicily and Puglia were for a long time Italy's main wine producers, this balance began to shift north towards Veneto in the latter half of the 20th Century. In the 1990s, southern Italian wine languished in an increasingly competitive and demanding world, while Veneto upped its game, gaining recognition with such wines as Valpolicella, Amarone, Soave, and Prosecco.

With fruity red Valpolicella complementing its intense Amarone and sweet Recioto counterparts, Veneto is armed with a formidable portfolio of red wines to go with its refreshing whites, such as Soave and sparkling Prosecco. Although much of the new vineyard area that supported Veneto's increased wine output was of questionable viticultural quality, today more than 25 percent of the region's wine is made and sold under DOC/DOCG titles.