Fratelli Tedeschi Estate and Winery produces wine in the heart of the Classic Valpolicella zone, North-West of Verona. Five generations of the Tedeschi family have made wine, continuing the tradition begun by Nicolò in 1824. Grandfather Lorenzo was known as "damigiana" (demijohn), because he transported his own wines to Verona by cart, bottled in demijohns which are large glass bottles covered in a basket weave, similar to Chianti bottles.
The wines Tedeschi produces, using traditional grape varieties, are characterized by the distinct personality of the Tedeschi Estate. This personality is the fruit of uninterrupted technological progress combined with abiding faith in the zone's best winemaking traditions. This gives us elegant wines, velvet-smooth, well-balanced... both young and ready-to-drink and wines that have benefited from long ageing.
Amarone della Valpolicella 2003
Amarone is a labour-intensive wine. Five grape varieties are hand picked in October and then dried on wooden racks for about three months. This air drying results in a 30-40% loss in weight and juice, yielding very concentrated flavours. In January the raisin-like grapes are crushed. The finished wine spends two years in large oak barrels prior to bottling. After six months bottle conditioning, the wine is released. This Amarone is ready for drinking upon release, but can benefit from a further 3-4 years of aging.
Grapes: Corvina; Rondinella; Molinara; Negrara; and Dindarella.
LCBO # 433417 $39.95 Continuous availability at Vintages.
Capitel Monte Fontana - Recioto Della Valpolicella DOC
Monte Fontana is the name of the vineyard situated on the hills of Pedemonte di Valpolicella, in the heart of the Classic Valpolicella zone. Recioto is a historic Valpolicella wine, passing through history under different names such as Retico during Roman domination and subsequently Acinatico during Lombard occupation. The vineyard is one hectare in size with an eastern exposure.
Grapes are harvested by hand at the end of September/beginning of October and placed in a single layer in trays. These trays are then moved into fruit storage structures with controlled temperature and humidity. Only perfectly healthy bunches are selected for drying in order for them to remain equally healthy at the time of pressing (after about 4 months of drying).
During the month of January, when the grapes are pressed, the level of sugar in the grapes is 300 g/l and acidity is 8.3 g/l. Steeping takes place during fermentation. The process lasts 30 days and takes place at a 15°C temperature. Fermentation is halted at the end of this period, leaving the wine slightly sweet. This natural sugar residue is mainly due to the high sugar concentration the grapes achieve at the end of their drying period. After vinification the wine is then subject to maturing for two years in Slavonia oak barrels.
The wine generates a strong aroma during this period and its color is stabilized thanks to special chemical reactions. It is then bottled and refined in the bottle for six months before it is marketed. This is the only way to appreciate the transformations that have taken place in the wine.
Grapes: 30% Corvina; 30% Corvinone; 30% Rondinella; 10% Molinara, Rossignola, Oseleta, Negrara, Dindarella.
LCBO # 0980870 $29.50.
Rosso La Fabriseria
The Tedeschi Family constantly strives to improve its products. Rosso La Fabriseria is a new wine generated by these efforts and incorporating experience, innovation and attention for details. It is produced with classic Valpolicella grapes such as Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Dindarella together with a tiny percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. The Valpolicella grapes come from the hillsides in the Classic Valpolicella zone. The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are produced in a small vineyard in a small estate property, the Lucchine.
Grapes, in perfect health and perfectly ripe, are harvested at the beginning of October. They are processed separately, treated with care to preserve their unique potential as much as possible and exalt to the utmost the pedo-climatic characteristics of the environments that they come from. Pressing is so soft that some of the grapes remain whole. Subsequent destemming involves about 85% of the grapes. The must ferments in small fermenting vats for optimum contact between liquid and solid parts during steeping. Alcoholic fermentation takes place at 28°C and lasts about 10 days. Steeping of skins lasts another 10 days.
Oxygenation and temperature control help quickly start malolactic fermentation that is then rapidly terminated in new Allier (Quercus sessilis) barriques with medium-low degree of roasting. This way the lactic bacteria, responsible for malolactic fermentation, generate buttered and grilled aromatic components that amalgamate with the overall organoleptic characteristics of the wine, making it fat and, at the same time, velvet smooth. The wine is marketed after one year of refinement in wood and six months in the bottle.
This winemaking technique, with one foot in tradition and the other in modern technology, exalts the fruity complexity of the grape varieties that are used. It achieves the complex flavor and bouquet that generally characterize Tedeschi Winery wines.
Grapes: 30% Corvina; 30% Corvinone; 30% Rondinella; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Molinara, Rossignola, Oseleta, Negrara, Dindarella.
LCBO # 0726695 $36.95.
Capitel Dei Nicalo - Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC
This wine is made from red grape varieties grown on moraine hills in the Classic Valpolicella zone. This wine is produced using a traditional Veronese technique: raisin-drying of the grapes. What we really have is light dehydration: the grapes, placed in wooden crates for about one month, lose about 8-10% of their weight. During some years they may be partially attacked by Botrytis cinerea in the larval state (noble mold).
This light dehydration naturally enriches the sugar contents of the grapes, their dry extract, ash and the color of the wine. Pre-fermentation aromas are formed during drying. These subsequently blend with fermentation aromas and, above all, with tertiary aromas coming from aging the wine in wooden barrels.
The grapes are preserved in wooden crates for about one month after they are harvested at the start of October. Then they are pressed and stems are removed and they undergo fermentation in special small fermentation vats. Skin steeping also takes place during fermentation. Fermentation and steeping take place in 14 days at a temperature of 28°C. The must is pumped over during steeping in order to extract the largest possible amount of color and to get maximum body and structure for the wine. Malolactic fermentation takes place when alcoholic fermentation is terminated.
The wine is placed in Slavonia oak barrels (5000 liter capacity) and left to age for a year and a half. The wine, during this period, balances its structure and stabilizes its color. It is then bottled and refined in a reductive ambient for about 6 months before being marketed.
Grapes: 30% Corvina; 30% Corvinone; 30% Rondinella; 10% Molinara, Rossignola, Oseleta, Negrara, Dindarella.
LCBO # 0984997 $16.95.
