Roccolo Grassi

Roccolo Grassi is a small winery located in the eastern hills of Valpolicella towards Soave, it is also the name of their Amarone vineyard. The property consists of three vineyards and vines ranging from 6-45 years old. Brother and sister, Marco and Francesca Sartoli, took over from their father in 1986 and began the process of transforming the winery and vineyards. They began to farm organically and to focus on quality rather than quantity. All of their wines are single vineyard, which means that each wine receives the best grapes from each vineyard rather using the best grapes for only the best wine and then declassifying down. Marco, who grows the grapes and makes the wines, prefers little influence from dried grapes and uses very little dried fruit in the Amarone and Valpolicella Superiore wines. The resulting wines are textured and luxurious without ever being anything but balanced and fresh. On my first visit to the winery I tasted Soave back to 2010 and Valpolicella Superiore back to 1998. These wines are built for aging and the evolution in the bottle is striking.