Valpolicella Classico - Superiore - Quintarelli

The Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC by Giuseppe Quintarelli is the ultimate proof that great wine has no categories — only great producers. Labelled "lesser" only because it is not the Amarone, this Valpolicella is in truth one of the most extraordinary and sought-after wines in the entire appellation, produced with the same radical philosophy and absolute rigour that define every bottle to leave the Negrar cellar.

Giuseppe Quintarelli — who passed away in 2012 after permanently revolutionising Veronese winemaking — built over fifty years of silent, solitary work a legend that few producers anywhere in the world can claim. His wines are not born from marketing or external consultants: they are born from the vineyard, the cellar, the hands of a family that chose never to compromise. Today the winery is carried forward by his daughter Fiorenza and her husband Francesco Dall'Ora with the same unchanged spirit.

The Valpolicella Classico Superiore is produced from Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Molinara, Negrara and Oseleta — a blend of indigenous varieties that only Quintarelli assembles with this mastery — partially dried before vinification, giving the wine a concentration and complexity that go well beyond the appellation norms. Ageing takes place in Slavonian oak barrels for a period far exceeding the minimum required by the Superiore regulations, and the wine is released only when the family considers it ready — often years after the harvest.

On the nose it is magnificent and surprising: fresh and preserved cherry, blackberry, violet, warm spice, tobacco, aromatic herbs from the Negrar hills, a hint of leather and a tuffaceous minerality recalling the limestone soils of the Valpolicella Classica. On the palate it is elegant, complex and surprisingly fresh for its concentration — refined tannins, vibrant acidity, a long and enveloping finish with notes of red fruit and spice that evolve for minutes. A wine that resembles no other Valpolicella on the market — because there is no other Quintarelli on the market.

Available in extremely limited quantities. One of the rarest opportunities Emporio Divino can offer its customers.