WINERY The Dal Forno family has been making wine since 1983. Located in Val D’Illasi, the estate consists of 65 acres of vines planted to traditional indigenous varieties of Corvina, Corvinone, Rodinella, Oseleta, and Croatina.

WINE Valpolicella Superiore DOC ‘Monte Lodolette’ is a wine that presents considerable differences with wines in its category. These differences that are mainly due to specific production methods. In fact, the same quality and procedural criteria that are adopted for Amarone are faithfully followed.

Starting with the 2002 vintage, all the grapes that go into the Valpolicella Superiore undergo a light but beneficial drying process lasting about a month and a half. This phase allows the grapes to achieve an optimal balance between organoleptic concentration and olfactory freshness. The result is a wine of extraordinary aromatic intensity and longevity.

The estate vineyards and farm are located where the slopes begin to rise toward the mountains and sit 1,000 feet above sea level.

The 2008 vintage will be remembered as a season without too many climatic upheavals: on the whole, it was fairly cool, marked by a vegetative recovery that began slightly late, due to below-average temperatures. The year then continued with milder conditions, but with less sunlight than normal, which led to a slight delay in the ripening of the grapes. This was compounded by two hailstorms, fortunately of moderate intensity, which did, however, further delay the normal ripening of the grapes. The autumn, on the other hand, unusually presented itself with balanced weather, no rainfall and favourable temperatures, allowing us to arrive at the harvest with grapes of good quality and allowing us to carry out all the delicate operations of this period without any particular stress.

In temperature-controlled steel tanks (around 28°C), equipped with a sophisticated computerized system that allows automatic punching-down over a period of around 15 days, including the final two days of maceration.

Valpolicella offers hints of blueberry, blackberry, cherry and chocolate which emerge gradually as the wine breathes. The potent tannins, which give structure to this product, are in perfect symbiosis with the velvety aromas of sweet spices and jam which envelop the palate and excite the senses.