From the atlas
Azienda Agricola Roncolato
At A Glance
Producer: Azienda Agricola Roncolato Country: Italy Region: Veneto Appellations: Soave Classico DOC, Valpolicella DOC Grapes: Garganega (whites); Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Oseleta (reds) Founded: 1980 Vineyards: 30 hectares Key Bottles: Soave Carcera; Amarone della Valpolicella
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The Producer
Roncolato farms both sides of a divide that most Veneto producers choose one side of. The estate's 30 hectares sit partly in the volcanic hills of Soave Classico, east of Verona, where Garganega gives pale, floral whites, and partly in the hills of Valpolicella to the west, where Corvina and its blending partners build the dried-grape reds that have made northeastern Italy famous. The Roncolato family had vineyards in these hills from the mid-nineteenth century. Commercial bottling under the family name began in 1980.
That span, white wine country and red wine country under a single estate, shapes how the range works. The lightest bottle is the steel-fermented Soave Carcera at 12 percent alcohol. The heaviest is the Amarone della Valpolicella at 15 percent, built from grapes dried for several months before fermentation. Between those two points the estate covers Recioto di Soave, Pinot Grigio, a Brut sparkling white, Valpolicella DOC, Ripasso, and a Passito del Veneto. Few Veneto estates run both ends of that spectrum from their own ground.
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Place
Soave Classico is the historic inner zone of the broader Soave DOC, centred on volcanic basalt soils in the hills around the villages of Soave and Monteforte d'Alpone. The volcanic geology here gives Garganega its mineral lift and moderate alcohol. Soave Classico on the label signals grapes from this original, hillside zone rather than the extended flatland vineyards that diluted the appellation's reputation through the 1970s and 1980s.
Valpolicella DOC occupies the hills and valleys northwest of Verona. The three main grape varieties, Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella, are grown here across a range of styles from fresh and light to the full Amarone. The appellation's most distinctive technique is appassimento: harvested grapes are dried on bamboo racks for months, losing water and concentrating everything else. Sugar, colour, aroma, and phenolic weight all increase before fermentation begins. Amarone ferments fully dry despite that concentration, which is where the 15 percent alcohol comes from and where the wine's dark, dense character originates.
Roncolato's two zones sit roughly 30 kilometres apart, close in Veneto terms, separated by Verona. The soil shifts from volcanic east of the city to alluvial and calcareous west of it, and so do the wines.
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Soil And Site
The Soave Classico vineyards sit on volcanic basalt and basaltic clay in the hills above the valley floor. This geology drains well, limits vine vigour, and contributes the mineral, slightly chalky edge that distinguishes hillside Soave from the lighter flatland versions. Garganega roots into these soils and produces grapes with moderate sugar and lively acidity.
The Valpolicella vineyards occupy hillside positions in the DOC zone where calcareous clay and limestone soils give the Corvina family enough grip to support the long drying period that Amarone demands. Grapes that struggle to hold their acidity through months of appassimento produce flat, overripe Amarone. Grapes from well-sited hill positions keep enough freshness to balance the concentration.
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Story
The Roncolato family put down roots in these hills in the mid-1800s. For more than a century, those vines fed into the bulk trade, grapes or wine sold through cooperative channels rather than bottled under the family name. That was the standard arrangement for small Veneto growers throughout most of the twentieth century: the land was theirs, the wine was the cooperative's.
In 1980 the family reorganised and began estate bottling. The founding formalised what the vineyards already were: a split-zone holding across two distinct appellations, requiring knowledge of both dried-grape white wine in Soave and dried-grape red wine in Valpolicella. The philosophy adopted at founding, natural vineyard management, selective multi-pass harvesting at peak ripeness, and temperature-controlled cellaring with modern equipment supporting traditional methods, has remained the stated approach. The estate built its range from both ends of the Veneto white-to-red spectrum and held that position through the years when both Soave and Amarone moved in and out of fashion.
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Vineyards And Cellar
Harvest at Roncolato is done in multiple passes through the vineyard, with pickers returning to the same rows as different bunches reach full ripeness. Selective picking takes longer than a single mechanical sweep and keeps unripe or compromised fruit out of the cellar. For the Amarone, Ripasso, Recioto di Soave, and Passito, the selected bunches go to drying lofts rather than directly to fermentation.
Appassimento for the Amarone means the grapes rest on bamboo racks for several months after harvest, losing roughly 30 percent of their weight as water evaporates. What remains is richer in sugar, colour, and aromatic compounds. Fermentation then runs long and dry, converting those elevated sugars to the 15 percent alcohol in the finished wine. The Ripasso takes a shorter route: Valpolicella DOC wine is re-fermented over the pressed Amarone skins, picking up body, colour, and some dried-fruit character without the full appassimento process.
In the cellar, temperature control keeps fermentations steady. The steel-fermented Soave Carcera preserves the light, floral character of Garganega at low temperature. A wood-aged Soave Classico also exists in the range, adding some texture and weight to the appellation's baseline freshness.
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Wines
The white range opens with Soave Carcera, the steel-fermented Garganega from Soave Classico, at 12 percent alcohol: pale straw in colour, with a delicate floral nose and the light body typical of this appellation when harvested at correct ripeness. A separate wood-aged Soave Classico adds a second tier, broadening the mid-palate through oak contact while keeping the appellation's acidity. Recioto di Soave DOCG is the sweet white, made from dried Garganega by the same appassimento method used for Amarone: honeyed, with more weight and concentration than the dry Soave, and classified under its own DOCG. A Pinot Grigio and a Brut sparkling dry white complete the white side.
The red range works as a clear ladder. Valpolicella DOC is the entry red, fresh and cherry-driven, built from Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella. Ripasso DOC lifts that base wine in body and colour through re-fermentation over Amarone skins, adding dried-fruit complexity and tannin without Amarone's weight. Amarone della Valpolicella sits at the top: a full, dry red built from Corvina 50 percent, Corvinone 25 percent, Rondinella 20 percent, and Oseleta 5 percent, all dried before fermentation, all fermented to 15 percent alcohol. The 2015 vintage scored 92 out of 100. Passito del Veneto, the sweet dried-grape red dessert wine, extends the range beyond Amarone.
Appassimento runs through both halves of the range. Recioto di Soave is the dried-grape white. Amarone is the dried-grape red. That parallel is not common to most Veneto producers who do not hold ground in both appellations.
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In The Glass
Soave Carcera opens with a pale, almost water-white straw colour and a nose of white flowers and ripe pear. In the mouth it is light-bodied, with gentle acidity and low alcohol giving it an easy, clean line. The finish is short and mildly almond-edged, which is the Garganega signature. It sits firmly in the everyday-drinking tier: uncomplicated, fresh, and best within a year or two of vintage.
The Amarone della Valpolicella is a different category of wine. Dark in the glass, nearly opaque in youth. The nose layers ripe dark plum, baked cherry, anise, and oak spice, with the cooked-fruit character that dried-grape fermentation always introduces. In the mouth the body is full and dense, the tannins firm from both the Corvina skins and the wood ageing, and the alcohol at 15 percent gives a warm, long finish. The concentration from months of drying is present in every sip. Acidity holds the wine together beneath the weight, which is what allows Amarone to age. The 2015 scored 92 out of 100 and shows the house style at its clearest: dark fruit, dried spice, and a finish that lasts.
The Ripasso sits between those two registers, sharing the Valpolicella base's cherry freshness but carrying more body and dried-fruit depth from its time on Amarone skins.
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A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Amarone della Valpolicella. It is made from dried grapes before fermentation. Corvina 50 percent, Corvinone 25 percent, Rondinella 20 percent, Oseleta 5 percent, all dried on bamboo racks before fermentation, all pressed and fermented fully dry to 15 percent alcohol. The Amarone has dark plum and baked cherry on the nose, with anise and oak spice through the mid-palate. The 2015 vintage carries a 92 out of 100 score. Open it with a meal that can match the weight, lamb or aged beef or braised venison, and give it an hour in a wide decanter to let the dried-fruit concentration open. It rewards patience and illustrates exactly why the dried-grape tradition persists in Valpolicella when a simpler red wine would be easier to make.
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Anecdote
The Roncolato family had vineyards in the hills of Soave and Valpolicella from the 1850s. Through the late nineteenth century and most of the twentieth, those grapes moved into the bulk trade: picked, pressed, and sold through cooperative channels the way most small Veneto growers worked. The land was theirs. The labels were not. Then in 1980, the family formalised the estate, registered it under the Roncolato name, and began bottling their own wine for export. The decision meant taking responsibility for two distinct appellations at once: the floral Garganega whites of Soave Classico on one side, the dried-grape Corvina reds of Valpolicella on the other. A century and a quarter of family farming became, in 1980, a named estate with bottles going out under a label that had never existed before.
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Final Word
Roncolato is a Veneto estate with uncommon geographic reach: Soave Classico for whites, Valpolicella for reds, with appassimento running through both zones. The range from 12 percent Garganega to 15 percent Amarone is not accidental. It follows from the decision made in 1980 to bottle from both sides of the estate's historical ground. The Amarone is the reference bottle, dark and dense and built for the table. The Soave Carcera is the entry point, light and floral and honest.
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Sources
- https://www.internationalbeveragenetwork.com/38826/Azienda-Agricola-RONCOLATO-ANTONIO
- https://mimmowinesimport.com/product/soave-carcera/
- https://www.nataliemaclean.com/wine-reviews/roncolato-amarone-della-valpolicella-2015/331716
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/amarone-della-valpolicella-5026601/