ALLEGRINI ‘LA GROLA’ CORVINA, VENETO 2019

90% Corvina with 10% Oseleta

French oak barrels for 16 months and in large Slavonian barrels for 2 months, followed by ageing in the bottle for 10 months

Wine has been made at the Italian estate of Allegrini in Fumane di Valpolicella, not far from Lake Garda, since the 16th century. A census from around this time shows the family was a major landowner with considerable local influence. Fast-forwarding to the 20th century, the late Giovanni Allegrini became the driving force of the company. Having begun work in the family vineyards at an early age, he set about updating the vineyard and winery practices he had questioned as a youth.

Giovanni not only laid the foundations for the strong family business, developing markets in Italy and abroad, but also worked to gain recognition for the crus of Valpolicella D.O.C, acquiring a vineyard on the hill of La Grola, overlooking Lake Garda for the very purpose. Giovanni, who died prematurely in 1983, did not live long enough to see the vineyard replanted, and his children literally brought the project to fruition.

All Allegrini wines are produced from estate-grown fruit, harvested from the family’s 70 hectares of vines. With quality firmly under their control, the Allegrinis are famously anti-establishment when it comes to local DOC regulations, many of which they feel to be outdated and counterproductive. The basic Valpolicella is bottled under screwcap to retain maximum freshness, waiving the right to the Classico designation in the process. Premium bottlings are simply sold as vino da tavola because of their non-conformist blends, but their quality here is infinitely superior to.

La Grola is a single vineyard wine produced by the historic Allegrini family. You can see Lake Garda from the top of La Grola vineyard which was bought by Giovanni Allegrini in 1979 to create Valpolicella’s first single vineyard Corvina.

Intense yet elegant with a bouquet of wild berries, juniper, tobacco and coffee.

Robert Parker 92
Wine Enthusiast 92