Italy · Veneto

Quintarelli Giuseppe

Giuseppe Quintarelli was one of the most legendary and idiosyncratic winemakers in all of Italy, producing Valpolicella and Amarone in the Negrar Valley of the Valpolicella Classico zone using methods that have remained essentially unchanged for half a century. Quintarelli's wines — Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, Alzero (a Cabernet-based wine), and Recioto — are produced in tiny quantities from vines farmed with obsessive care, dried on bamboo racks (appassimento) for 90 or more days, and then aged for extraordinarily long periods — up to 10 years in large Slavonian and French oak before release. The resulting wines are unlike any other Amarone: extraordinarily concentrated, layered with dried fruit, spice, tobacco, and earthy complexity, but with the freshness and structure to evolve for decades. Giuseppe died in 2012; the estate is now run by his daughter Franca Quintarelli, maintaining the same methods and standards. Production is minuscule — fewer than 5,000 cases per year — and the wines are allocated through a waiting list. At auction, Quintarelli is among Italy's most collectible wines, with older vintages commanding prices comparable to top Burgundy.