The estates, domaines and châteaux worth the drive in Valpolicella, from first growths to grower gems.
The estates, domaines and châteaux worth the drive in Valpolicella, from classified growths to grower gems.
Negrar estate listed in the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella register as Az. Agr. Quintarelli Giuseppe di Quintarelli Fiorenza, at Via Cerè. The register carries no website for it, and the range runs to Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, Recioto della Valpolicella Classico and Valpolicella Classico Superiore.
Family cellar on Via Molino Turri in Negrar, run by Paolo and Giuseppe Bussola, working the Classico appassimento range of Valpolicella, Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto.
Hillside estate above Arbizzano di Negrar run by Paolo and Marco Galli, with Marta Galli as the third generation. The range covers Amarone Classico, Valpolicella Classico Superiore, Ripasso and Recioto.
San Peretto estate the Mazzi family has farmed since 1900, now run by Roberto's sons Stefano and Antonio. Guided visits take in the historic cellar with its water mill and the drying lofts.
Tasting: Guided cellar visit with a classic tasting including Amarone and Recioto, by appointment.
Claudio Viviani farms at Mazzano above Negrar on calcareous medium-textured soils, using the altitude and low humidity of the site for the appassimento that feeds his Recioto and Amarone.
Estate on the Jago hill in Negrar run by Enrico Cascella Spinosa, with the Albasini Amarone and a Recioto della Valpolicella at the head of the range.
Cooperative founded in 1933 at the mouth of the Negrar valley, with 240 members farming 700 hectares of vineyard across the Valpolicella Classico hills. It bottles under the Domini Veneti label.
The Gaetano Bertani branch of the family works from the Novare estate in Negrar, dating its winemaking to 1735 and covering Amarone Classico Riserva, Valpolicella Ripasso Classico and Recioto alongside Soave.
Small family cellar at Vigolo in Negrar producing Valpolicella Classico, Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto, plus an olive oil pressed from the trees standing in the vineyard.
Tasting: Cellar tasting hosted by the family, booked directly.
The Recchia family has grown grapes at Cà Bertoldi in Negrar since 1906. The family house doubles as the tasting room and the harvest for Recioto and Amarone starts in mid September.
Tasting: Guided visits and tastings at the family house in Negrar.
Valgatara estate working since 1902 under the Cà la Bionda name, farming organically across a range built on Valpolicella Classico, Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto.
Organic estate in the Novaia hamlet of Marano, a member of the Consorzio Tutela Vini della Valpolicella, the Strada del Vino Valpolicella and the Biodistretto della Valpolicella.
Small Valgatara estate run by Elena and Federico Coati from a restored courtyard farm, producing the four Valpolicella styles from the Marano valley slopes.
Pier Paolo and Stefano Antolini have farmed at Prognol in Marano since 1992, working about nine hectares of family vineyard between 150 and 350 metres, with a further plot at Semonte in San Pietro in Cariano since 1993.
Valgatara house bottling the I Castei and Ca del Pipa lines, from Valpolicella Classico and Ripasso Classico Superiore up to Amarone Classico and the Campo Casalin selection.
Boutique cellar perched at around 500 metres on the Marano hills, run by the fifth generation of the family across Valpolicella Classico, Superiore, Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto.
Family house at Valgatara whose certified organic estate vineyards sit alongside fruit from more than fifty contracted growers across roughly eighty hectares in the Marano comune, with a cellar visit programme.
Tasting: Cellar visit with a tasting of Valpolicella Ripasso, Valpolicella Superiore and Amarone.
Organic family cellar at Paverno in Valgatara. The whole family works the drying racks that feed the Recioto and Amarone.
The Degani family traces its Valgatara winemaking to the early 1900s and still handles drying, vinification and bottling in house across Valpolicella Classico, Superiore, Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto.
Fifth-generation Valgatara estate with 22 hectares across the Valgatara and Marano hills. The Gaso terraces at around 400 metres have been worked since 1870.
Fumane house whose vineyard holdings run to a little over 100 hectares in the Valpolicella Classico zone. Francesco, Giovanni, Matteo and Silvia Allegrini run it today, on the legacy of Giovanni Allegrini.
Tasting: Showroom and estate visits at Fumane, booked through the estate.
Marco Speri's own cellar at Campolongo in Fumane, with a deliberately short range: Valpolicella Classico, Ripasso, Amarone and Recioto.
Cottini family cellar at Ponte Scrivan in Fumane, three generations of growers handling the whole cycle from vineyard to bottle across Valpolicella, Ripasso, Amarone and the Carpane and Twenty selections.
Valentina Cubi and Giancarlo Nordera bought seven hectares at Casterna in 1969, now ten, on the Monte Tenda and Monte Crosetta slopes. The estate farms organically and runs an agriturismo.
Scamperle family estate in the centre of Fumane, working the Classico range from Valpolicella through Ripasso to Amarone and Recioto.
Estate in the Osan hamlet of Fumane with a tower and terraced hillside plots. Its Amandorlato Recioto della Valpolicella Classico sits between sweet Recioto and dry Amarone, and part of the range is certified organic.
Zeno Zignoli works six to seven hectares on the ridge that climbs from Bure at 220 metres to Mazzurega at 430 metres, land the Ragno family has farmed for five generations.
Masi works from Gargagnago in Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella and is the producer that replanted Oseleta in the early 1980s after phylloxera had all but wiped it out. Its Monteleone21 site next door handles visits.
Tasting: Tastings and estate visits at Monteleone21 in Gargagnago.
Ferrari family estate at Gargagnago that dates its winemaking to 1789 and is certified organic by ABCERT, with Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG at the head of the range.
Tasting: Wine tastings at the Gargagnago cellar.
Accordini family house in San Pietro in Cariano bottling the Le Bessole and Le Viole lines through Valpolicella Superiore, Ripasso Superiore and Amarone della Valpolicella.
Celestino Gaspari's cellar at San Floriano, cut into an old quarry, working Valpolicella and Amarone alongside experimental bottlings from rare local varieties.
Pedemonte house dating its wine trade to 1811, working from a Palladian villa with gardens and fountains and a recently rebuilt cellar.
Tasting: Booked hospitality experiences at the Pedemonte villa.
Three generations of the Nicolis family have made wine at San Pietro in Cariano since 1951, with the Seccal Ripasso Classico Superiore and the Ambrosan Amarone as the reference bottlings.
Carlo Venturini farms biodynamically at Castelrotto, vinifying each vineyard separately and fermenting Valpolicella in small steel vats and Amarone in wood. The Sant'Ulderico Recioto leads the range.
The Fumanelli family has made wine at Squarano for over five centuries. Its Amarone Classico and the Octavius Riserva are built on 40 percent Corvina, 40 percent Corvinone and 20 percent Rondinella.
Tommasi Family Estates is based at Ronchetto in San Pietro in Cariano and runs wine hospitality and wine tours from the Valpolicella Classico home estate.
Tasting: Wine hospitality programme and guided wine tours from the San Pietro in Cariano estate.
Seven generations of the Speri family in Valpolicella Classico, farming organically and running a visits programme alongside the Amarone range.
Tasting: Estate visits and tastings, booked through the winery.
Family house in San Pietro in Cariano with the Capitel Monte Olmi and Fabriseria Amarone Classico Riserva bottlings and the Maternigo estate in the eastern valleys.
Azienda Agricola Begali Lorenzo is a family operation of about twelve hectares in the small Cengia hamlet, named for the rock ledges above it, in the Valpolicella Classico zone.
The Cesari family has held Brigaldara since 1928. The property runs to over 120 hectares of which 48 are planted to vine, and the Amarone range includes the Case Vecie and Riserva bottlings.
Buglioni works vineyards in Valpolicella and Lugana from a base at Settimo di Pescantina, and runs its own osteria alongside the cellar.
Estate at Lodoletta in Cellore d'Illasi, in the eastern Valpolicella valleys, listed in the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella register. Its Amarone and its Valpolicella Superiore both carry the Monte Lodoletta site name, and being outside the Classico zone neither is labelled Classico.
Estate on Monte Tenda above Illasi producing since 1924 and certified organic for more than thirty years, across Valpolicella Superiore, Amarone and Recioto della Valpolicella.
Third-generation family holding of about 85 years standing in the comune of Illasi on the Mezzane valley side, run by Luca Anselmi and Sofia Kherkeladze, with an organic olive oil alongside the wines.
Flavio Pra's estate at Allodola in Cellore d'Illasi, a fourth-generation family holding that matches each variety to the plot that suits it.
Estate working since 1996 in the Val di Mezzane between 200 and 300 metres, with 16 to 17 hectares of owned vineyard plus two hectares of woodland and one of olives.
Marinella Camerani's estate at Cà Fioi in the Mezzane valley, registered with the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella as Azienda Agricola Camerani Marinella.
Estate in the Mezzane valley held by the Cracco family since 1883 and relaunched in 2003 under Camilla Rossi Chauvenet, with certified organic production, a relais, a fruttaio and a range of Amarone, Ripasso and Valpolicella.
The Morini family farms 45 hectares split between the Val di Mezzane and the Soave hills, with an organic line alongside the Leon Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG.
Three generations at Tregnago in the upper Illasi valley since Gino Marchi started in 1945, with a barrel room and bottle caveau open to visitors and a range from Durello sparkling to Amarone.
Tasting: Guided visit taking in the barrel room, the vinification hall and the bottle caveau.
Small estate at Borgo in San Martino Buon Albergo, in the southeastern Valpolicella zone, listed in the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella register.
Biodynamic estate of nearly 400 hectares around a restored sixteenth-century courtyard at Ferrazzette, part of the Triple A grouping since 2018, with a relais and a tasting programme.
Tasting: Tasting of Drago Rose Corvinone IGT, Drago Bianco Garganega IGT, Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso and Amarone from 30 euro per person.
Single block of 35 hectares in the Valpantena of which 17 are planted to vine and the rest to woodland and olives, producing Amarone della Valpolicella Valpantena DOCG from Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella.
Winery, wine resort and restaurant at Erbin above Romagnano in the Valpantena, with a converted hay barn now used as the Theatro events space.
Tasting: Cellar visits, restaurant and wine resort stays in the Valpantena.
House trading since 1857, now part of Angelini Wines and Estates, with its cellars at Grezzana in the Valpantena and a library of historic Amarone della Valpolicella Classico vintages.
Tasting: Winery store open Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30 to 13.00 and 14.30 to 18.00.
Valpantena growers at Poiano founded in 1960 and run since 1998 by cousins Federico, Flavio and Vanio Tezza, with organic Valpolicella Valpantena bottlings and the Brolo delle Giare Amarone and Recioto.
Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine works from Via Belvedere in Verona and is listed in the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella register, with an Amarone and Valpolicella range alongside its wider Italian portfolio.
Negrar estate at Casetta di Montecchio working the full colour range from pale Valpolicella Classico DOC through to Amarone, with Recioto still made from the bunches brought into the courtyard by cart.
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Peak wine-travel season in Valpolicella is spring through autumn, with harvest the standout window.
classified-growth and grand-cru estates require booking days to weeks ahead; smaller family domaines often take walk-ins midweek.
most estates open 10:00 to 17:00 by appointment, often closed Sunday and Monday.
tipping is not expected at tastings; buying a bottle from the cellar door is the customary thank-you.
Ask the next local you meet what they would order. Valpolicella rewards trust.