Italy · Valpolicella & Bardolino (Verona hills)

Azienda Agricola Mizzon di Perusi Nicola

Small Valpolicella Classica estate farming six hectares of mixed soils in Valgatara since the early 1900s. Nicola Perusi makes Amarone from Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, and minor local varieties, drying grapes for four months on traditional arele racks before extended skin contact and four years of oak ageing.

The producer

The Perusi family has farmed in Valgatara since the early 1900s, in the Valpolicella Classica zone west of Verona where the rules for Amarone demand dried-grape fermentation from Corvina-dominant blends. The estate trades as Mizzon, a name inherited from an earlier generation. Nicola Perusi took over his grandfather's six hectares in 2010 and runs the whole operation on that compact holding, producing around 40,000 bottles a year from three distinct soil types: gravel on the lower slopes, sand in the foothills, and clay on the higher hills around Valgatara.

Nicola abandoned herbicides when he arrived, moving the vineyards toward organic practice without seeking certification. Grapes for Amarone and Recioto dry for four months on traditional wood-and-cane arele racks in the attic, with only fans and open windows for air control. The 2016 Amarone carried five varieties including the minor local grapes Dindarella and Oseleta, spent nearly two months on skins, and matured for four years in large oak casks and barriques. One batch ages in amphora instead of wood, producing floral notes that are unusual in the Valpolicella zone.

Known for

Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG

Notable facts

The story

The Amphora Batch

At some point after taking over his grandfather's cellar, Nicola Perusi pulled one batch of Amarone out of the normal ageing sequence and put it into amphora. This was not a regional tradition he was reviving: Valpolicella cellars work in wood, and have done so for as long as Amarone has existed as a category. The amphora sat outside all of that. When the wine came out of vessel, it had developed floral notes that observers flagged as very rare in wines from the zone. But the aromatics had gone somewhere else entirely. The wine now sits in the Mizzon range as a permanent cuvée, the one bottle on the estate that no inherited cellar logic can fully explain.

From the atlas

Azienda Agricola Mizzon di Perusi Nicola

At A Glance

Producer: Azienda Agricola Mizzon (Perusi family) Village: Valgatara Zone: Valpolicella Classica, Veneto Key grapes: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Dindarella, Oseleta, Molinara Core wine: Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Hectares: 6 Annual production: approximately 40,000 bottles

The Producer

The Perusi family has farmed in Valgatara since the early 1900s. The estate trades as Mizzon, a name inherited from an earlier generation, and sits in the Valpolicella Classica zone in Veneto: the historic heartland of the appellation, where the rules for Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG demand dried-grape fermentation from Corvina-dominant blends. Nicola Perusi took over his grandfather's six hectares in 2010 and runs the whole operation on that same compact holding, producing around 40,000 bottles a year.

The scale is deliberate. Six hectares across three distinct soil types in one valley gives Nicola direct control from vine to bottle without the logistical distance that separates larger Amarone houses from the parcels that feed their blends.

Place

Valpolicella Classica sits immediately west and northwest of Verona, across a series of valleys that run from the foothills of the Lessini mountains down toward the Adige plain. Valgatara occupies the Marano valley, one of the three original valleys of the Classica zone. A bottle labelled Valpolicella Classica or Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG from this address comes from vines that have been tied to this specific geography since the appellation was first mapped.

The Classica designation matters on a label because it excludes the flatland extensions added to the Valpolicella zone in the 1960s. Grapes grown here ripen more slowly and retain more acidity.

Soil And Site

Across six hectares in a single valley, Mizzon works three different soils. The lower vineyards sit on gravel, which drains quickly and keeps vine roots searching deep. Moving uphill, the ground shifts to sand in the foothills, then to clay on the higher hills around Valgatara. Clay holds water longer and produces grapes with more body and extract, while gravel and sand push the vine toward concentration through mild stress. Three soil types across one compact estate means Nicola is managing three different growing environments under the same farming philosophy.

Story

When Nicola Perusi took over in 2010, the estate had been in continuous family hands for roughly a century. He inherited vineyards, a cellar, and a way of working. What he changed was the chemistry. Herbicides were abandoned entirely, replaced by cover crops and natural pest management that encouraged a more balanced vineyard environment. The decision took the operation toward organic practice without seeking a certification label to prove it.

The shift in the vineyard was matched by an experiment in the cellar. At some point after taking over, Nicola set aside one batch of Amarone and aged it in amphora rather than in oak. Valpolicella cellars are built around large Slavonian casks and barriques; amphora is an outlier in the zone. The result went in an unexpected direction, and that experiment became a fixed part of the Mizzon range.

Vineyards And Cellar

Grapes destined for Amarone and Recioto go through appassimento: the controlled drying process that concentrates sugar, colour, and flavour before fermentation. At Mizzon, harvested bunches are laid on traditional arele, wood-and-cane racks stacked in the attic, and left to dry for four months. Only fans and open windows regulate the air; no industrial climate control is used. By the time the grapes are pressed, a large proportion of their water has evaporated, leaving a denser, more glycerol-rich must.

For the 2016 Amarone, skins remained in contact with the fermenting wine for nearly two months, extracting deep colour, tannin, and phenolic complexity from the partially dried fruit. After fermentation, the wine spent four years maturing in a combination of large oak casks and barriques before bottling. The amphora variant follows the same appassimento and maceration process but skips the wood entirely, which produces a different aromatic profile in the finished wine.

Wines

The confirmed range at Mizzon runs to Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, Recioto della Valpolicella, and the amphora-aged Amarone as an experimental cuvée.

The standard Amarone varies in blend composition between vintages. The 2016 carried five varieties: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Dindarella, and Oseleta. Dindarella and Oseleta are minor Valpolicella varieties with small plantings across the Classica zone; their presence in the 2016 blend signals a willingness to use what the estate grows rather than simplifying the blend toward the dominant trio. The 2017 shifted to four varieties: Corvina at 55%, Corvinone and Rondinella each at 20%, and Molinara at 5%. Blends move with the vintage at this scale.

Recioto della Valpolicella is the sweet expression of the same appassimento process: dried grapes fermented to retain significant residual sugar, producing a wine with deep red-fruit sweetness balanced by Corvina's natural acidity.

The amphora Amarone is a small-volume experimental cuvée. Skipping oak during maturation removes the vanilla, toast, and spice that barrel contact adds, and the clay vessel produces a wine with floral notes described as unusual for the Valpolicella zone.

In The Glass

The 2016 Amarone opens with aromas of small sweet red berries, subtle spice, and damp forest floor: a combination shaped by dried Corvina-dominant fruit and two months of skin contact. On the palate, a citrus quality lifts the wine despite its weight, while almond nuances thread through the mid-palate. The finish carries cherry and a cool mint note, leaving the wine feeling alive rather than heavy.

The amphora Amarone takes a different path from the same raw material. Without wood, the wine develops floral notes that are rare in Valpolicella, sitting alongside the firm, extract-rich body that the four-month drying process builds into every batch.

Across both expressions, the acidity from Corvina and the careful vineyard management keeps the weight of appassimento fruit from becoming oppressive. These are wines built for ageing, with the grip and freshness to improve over years in bottle.

A Bottle To Understand It

The Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG in its standard oak-aged expression is the right first bottle. It arrives with the full sequence of Mizzon's cellar work: four months of drying on arele, nearly two months of skin contact, four years in oak. The nose gives dried cherry, spice, and forest floor. The palate is firm and concentrated, with the citrus lift and almond character of the 2016 vintage cutting through the glycerol weight of the dried-grape base. The finish is long, cool, and faintly minty. Save the amphora variant for when you want to understand what the same wine does without wood. Start with the standard expression to understand what Valpolicella Classica appassimento can produce at this scale.

Anecdote

At some point after taking over his grandfather's cellar, Nicola Perusi pulled one batch of Amarone out of the normal ageing sequence and put it into amphora. This was not a regional tradition he was reviving: Valpolicella cellars work in wood, and have done so for as long as Amarone has existed as a category. The amphora sat outside all of that. When the wine came out of vessel, it had developed floral notes that observers flagged as very rare in wines from the zone. But the aromatics had gone somewhere else entirely. The wine now sits in the Mizzon range as a permanent cuvée, the one bottle on the estate that no inherited cellar logic can fully explain.

Final Word

Mizzon is a small Valpolicella Classica estate doing the slow work of appassimento on six hectares of mixed soils in Valgatara. Nicola Perusi runs it without herbicides, with traditional arele racks, and with one batch of Amarone that never touches wood. The standard Amarone is the place to start: it carries the whole arc of the estate's methods in one bottle.

Sources

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