Amarone della Valpolicella - Ernesto Ruffo

Ernesto Ruffo's Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG is one of those wines that tell the story of Valpolicella as it once was — before the appellation became synonymous with industrial production and standardized styles. Ernesto Ruffo is a small artisanal producer from Verona who works with traditional methods, favoring time and patience over production efficiency.

The Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella grapes are selected by hand in the vineyard and dried in drying rooms for over 90 days, losing up to 40% of their weight and naturally concentrating sugars, polyphenols, and aromas. Fermentation is slow — it can last several weeks — and aging takes place in large Slavonian oak casks, which lend the wine structure and gradual oxygenation without masking the varietal aromas with notes of new wood.

The Riserva version undergoes additional months of aging both in wood and in the bottle before release, achieving even greater complexity and depth. On the nose, it is monumental: black cherry jam, dark chocolate, dried plum, Kentucky tobacco, leather, oriental spices, and a ferrous mineral undertone that evokes the basaltic soils of Valpolicella Classica. On the palate, it is enveloping and warm, with silky, dense tannins, a glyceric sweetness that balances the alcoholic power, and an exceptionally long, persistent finish.

An Amarone for special occasions, produced by those who chose to stay small in order to remain great