Palazzo Della Torre, Veronese, Allegrini 2018

Country: Italy

Region: Valpolicella Classico, Veneto

Grape: 40% Corvina , 30% Corvinone, 25% Rondinella, 5% Sangiovese

Volume: 75cl

ABV: 13.5%

Vintage: 2018

Suitable for Vegans: Yes 

Suitable for Vegetarians: Yes

Food pairing: A classic, rich ragu would work well here, plenty of meaty flavours to support. A less traditional but equally delicious pairing would be seared ribeye steak dressed with dark soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds served alongside a crunchy asian slaw.

The Allegrini family estate covers 120 hectares of vineyard in the heart of the Valpolicella Classico area. The family has been growing grapes here for six generations, but the estate in its current form was founded by Giovanni Allegrini. When he passed away in 1983, it passed to his three children, who ran it together until Walter’s death in July 2003. Franco now looks after the vineyards and is the winemaker, and Marilisa is director of marketing.

Palazzo della Torre covers 26 hectares of east-facing vineyards planted between 1962 and 1989, situated at an average altitude of 240 metres above sea level. Vines are trained with the traditional Pergola Trentina system and planted with a density of 3,000 vines per hectare.The entire area is terraced by means of the traditional dry-stone walling called ‘marogne’ in local dialect, a highly characteristic example of local, rural architecture. The subsoil is primarily composed of marly limestone that encourages the concentration of sugars in the grapes while maintaining a good degree of acidity.

Franco Allegrini used the modern version of the traditional ‘ripasso’ technique for Palazzo della Torre, drying a proportion of the grapes in the ‘Terre di Fumane’ drying centre, to intensify the character of this vineyard. The grapes that were dried were hand picked during September, and the grapes vinified immediately were picked at the end of the month. 70% of the grapes picked were vinified immediately and 30% were left to dry until the second half of December when they were vinified and then re-fermented with the wine from the fresh grapes. The wine spent 15 months in second-use oak barriques, and was blended together for two months, then aged for a further seven months in bottle.