Winery Overview
From Verona, walk up Negrar’s valley until you reach a ‘ Rock’ of Limestone – this is Il Sasso (sasso is ‘rock’ in Italian). It’s here that the grape varieties Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella grow deep into the terraced limestone in search of water. Soon enough, the interaction of roots, water and limestone¹ soils will bring a palpable tension to the bottled wines. And, as we’ll see below, Il Sasso’s young owner Stefano Bellamoli focuses on preserving this tension. He tracks and knows the terracing here (soil, sun exposition, water retention, grape variety) like the back of his hand, because he has it in his notebook; he eschews wood (and its spice) in favour of unlined cement diamonds and ceramic eggs. All of this is done with the backdrop of an exacting viticulture that also happens to be certified organic. This is Valpolicella for minimalists.
Part of the PortoVino portfolio
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Vineyard
From the Latin Vallis-poli-cellae, Valley-of-many-cellars, derives the denomination Valpolicella. The valley and subzone of Negrar is Vallpolicella’s most well known on account of the number and fame of its historic producers (for example, Giuseppe Quintarelli). It’s here at just over 300 meters in the Pigneto cru that newcomer il Sasso is making its mark. Many producers in Valpolicella have tracks of limestone; yet, Stefano reminds us, the old system of terracing gives the wines just the right exposition, both less and more sun, to give lower yields while retaining acidity. Stefano aims not merely to pick early for fresh wines, but to pick the right vines, exposed differently, at the right time, for resulting freshness, depth, and tension.
Vinification
During fermentation no sulphites are added; the grapes are used to start a pied de cuvee and the natural yeasts in the grapes do the rest. The 20% of the grapes ferments with whole cluster and the rest is destemmed. Co-fermentation happens in steel tanks under 25°C and proceeds to complete dry in about 7 - 10 days and then quickly separation of the must and very soft pressing. Élevage in stainless steel tanks during the winter and then bottled in spring. No filtration and gravity natural decant.
