Italy · Valpolicella & Bardolino (Verona hills)

La Collina dei Ciliegi

High-altitude Valpantena estate farming Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella at up to 700 metres, where ripening runs a month later than the valley floor below Verona.

The producer

La Collina dei Ciliegi sits in Erbin, a village of Cimbrian origin on the rolling hills of Valpantena, a valley that runs north from Verona toward the Lessini plateau. Massimo Gianolli farms the highest vineyards in the entire Valpantena, between 550 and 700 metres above sea level, where the growing season extends by up to a month compared to the valley floor. That altitude gap is not incidental: it is the estate's central argument, and every wine it releases is built around what it produces in the glass.

Gianolli formalised that argument in 2017, when he convened a team to map and analyse the high-altitude terrain at Erbin before planting a single new vine. The first plantings went in during May 2018. Peratara, the estate's single-vineyard Valpolicella Superiore, draws from a named 4.5-hectare parcel and ages for two years across large barrels, tonneaux, barriques and amphorae, then a further year in bottle. Maciòn, a ripasso, completes the principal range.

Known for

Single-vineyard Valpolicella Superiore from the highest vineyards in Valpantena, aged three years across mixed vessels before release.

Notable facts

The story

The Meeting on the Hillside

In 2017, Massimo Gianolli called a meeting on the hillside at Erbin. He had decided to plant new vineyards at altitude, where no one in Valpantena had attempted this density, but before committing to a single vine he wanted the land read properly. He brought in Christian Roger as consultant and, from France, soil scientists Lydia and Claude Bourguignon. The four of them spent time walking the parcels, coring the ground and mapping the altitude gradient. Eleven months after that meeting, in May 2018, the first planting system went into the ground on what would become the Monte Castello parcel. The oldest vines from that programme are now reaching the age at which they begin to say something definite about the land.

From the atlas

La Collina dei Ciliegi

At A Glance

The Producer

Massimo Gianolli farms Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella at heights that change what Valpolicella can be. His estate, La Collina dei Ciliegi, sits in Erbin, a village of Cimbrian origin on the rolling hills of Valpantena, a valley running north from Verona toward the Lessini plateau. The vineyards are the highest in the entire Valpantena, between 550 and 700 metres, and at those elevations ripening runs up to a month later than on the valley floor below.

Gianolli's father Armando had his own earlier connection to Erbin, and the estate grows from that personal attachment to the land. The signature wine, Peratara, is a single-vineyard Valpolicella Superiore drawn from a named 4.5-hectare parcel. Maciòn, a ripasso, completes the principal range. Both wines work with the same three native grapes, and both reflect the altitude that defines the estate's character.

Place

Valpantena is one of several lateral valleys feeding into the main Adige valley west of Verona. It is distinct from the classic Valpolicella DOC zone, which lies further west, and its wines carry their own appellation designation. The valley floor is warm and productive; the slopes above Erbin are a different environment entirely.

At 550 to 700 metres, the Alta project vineyards sit well above the altitude at which most Valpolicella is grown. The extended ripening season that results concentrates aromatic compounds differently from lower-elevation fruit: less heat-driven softness, more time for phenolic development under cooler autumn temperatures. On the Monte Castello parcel, which runs north to south across 6.1 hectares at 580 to 700 metres, Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella ripen in conditions closer to a mountain vineyard than to the valley Amarone estates twenty minutes away. That altitude gap is the core argument behind every bottle Gianolli releases.

Soil And Site

The Alta project began with a systematic reading of the terrain. In 2017, Gianolli brought in soil scientists Lydia and Claude Bourguignon, along with consultant Christian Roger. The four of them walked, mapped, analysed and cored the high-altitude parcels at Erbin before committing to any new planting.

The first planting system went into the ground in May 2018, with a density of 7,692 vines per hectare, a figure that reflects an intention toward vine competition and root depth rather than high yields. The Monte Castello parcel, at 6.1 hectares, is the most significant plot developed under this programme. Its north-south exposure and elevation position it as the long-term centre of the estate's ambition.

Story

Gianolli's connection to Erbin predates the estate itself. His father Armando had come to the area years earlier, and the village received the younger Gianolli when he trained there. That personal history became a formal commitment when Gianolli established La Collina dei Ciliegi at Località Erbin 31 in Grezzana.

The Alta project, begun in 2017, was the decisive move. Rather than planting on instinct, Gianolli convened a team to interrogate the land first. The Bourguignons are among France's most methodical soil analysts; their involvement at this small Valpantena estate was unusual, and it reoriented the entire planting programme. The decision shifted the estate's centre of gravity upward, to elevations where no other Valpantena producer had planted at comparable density. Peratara, drawn from those parcels, debuted with the 2019 vintage. Production on the first release was limited to roughly 9,000 bottles.

Vineyards And Cellar

The Alta vineyards are planted at 7,692 vines per hectare, a high density for the region. Dense planting forces each vine to draw from a smaller surface area, encouraging deeper rooting and reducing individual vine vigour. At altitude, that lower vigour translates into smaller berries with a higher skin-to-juice ratio, which intensifies colour, tannin and aromatic concentration.

Peratara macerates for ten days, a moderate extraction period for Corvina-based wines. After fermentation, the wine ages for two years in a combination of large barrels, tonneaux, barriques and amphorae, then rests in bottle for a further twelve months before release. The mix of vessel sizes and materials produces a layered élevage: large barrels contribute slow, gentle oxygen exchange; barriques add more direct wood contact; amphorae maintain freshness with no oak influence. The result across this three-year maturation is a wine that arrives with integrated spice and tannin rather than raw wood or primary fruit.

Maciòn follows the ripasso method, refermented on the dried grape skins left from Amarone or Recioto production. That secondary fermentation adds body, colour and dried-fruit depth to a base Valpolicella wine, producing a style with more weight than a straight Valpolicella Superiore but more immediacy than Amarone.

Wines

The range at La Collina dei Ciliegi organises around two main expressions of the Valpantena's three native grapes.

Peratara, the estate's primary statement, is a Valpolicella Superiore from a single vineyard of approximately 4.5 hectares. Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella macerate together for ten days, giving the wine its colour and a tannin frame that independent reviewers have described as present but ripe. After two years in large barrels, tonneaux, barriques and amphorae, and a year in bottle, it shows dark spice, smooth texture and enough grip to develop further in the cellar. Cronache di Gusto, covering the 2019 debut, noted the drinkable texture despite the wine's youth. DoctorWine pointed to spice integration, smooth tannins and ageing potential as the marks of the élevage.

Maciòn is a ripasso, refermented on dried skins to add body and a dried-fruit register. Where Peratara stays taut and spiced, Maciòn moves toward rounder, fuller weight, with the dark cherry and plum character that the ripasso process amplifies. It occupies a different collection within the estate's own range architecture, aimed at a richer, more immediately expressive style.

The Monte Castello parcel, at 6.1 hectares and up to 700 metres, represents the vineyard base for the estate's long-term development. Plantings from 2018 are still approaching maturity.

In The Glass

Peratara opens with dark fruit and spice, the Corvina and Corvinone expressing a cooler ripeness than valley-floor Valpolicella: dried cherry, black pepper, a faint earthy mineral note from the altitude. In the mouth, ten days of maceration gives a tannin frame that is firm without being angular, and the mixed élevage across large barrels, tonneaux, barriques and amphorae leaves a layered mid-palate with integrated oak rather than a single wood character. The finish is long and spiced, with the acidity from high-altitude growing keeping the wine fresh at the back of the palate.

Maciòn reads richer from the first sip. The ripasso refermentation on dried skins pushes the fruit toward dried cherry and dark plum, adds body, and softens the tannin into something rounder and more immediately enveloping. It carries the same altitude-grown freshness underneath, but the weight sits higher and the texture is broader.

Both wines benefit from being opened an hour before serving. Peratara rewards a further two to four years in the cellar; Maciòn is ready sooner.

A Bottle To Understand It

Peratara is the right first bottle. It is the only wine in the range sourced entirely from a single named parcel at high altitude, and it shows most clearly what the estate's terrain argument amounts to in the glass.

The wine is Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella from a 4.5-hectare vineyard at Erbin, matured across three years in mixed vessels before release. In the glass it is medium-full, with firm but ripe tannin, dark spice, a cool fruit character unlike valley-floor Valpolicella, and an acidity that keeps the finish alive. It is complete enough to drink now and has the tannin and acid architecture to develop for several more years. Start here to understand what 700 metres does to these three grapes.

Anecdote

In 2017, Massimo Gianolli called a meeting on the hillside at Erbin. He had decided to plant new vineyards at altitude, where no one in Valpantena had attempted this density, but before committing to a single vine he wanted the land read properly. He brought in Christian Roger as consultant and, from France, soil scientists Lydia and Claude Bourguignon. The four of them spent time walking the parcels, coring the ground and mapping the altitude gradient. Eleven months after that meeting, in May 2018, the first planting system went into the ground on what would become the Monte Castello parcel. The oldest vines from that programme are now reaching the age at which they begin to say something definite about the land.

Final Word

La Collina dei Ciliegi is a Valpantena estate built around a specific argument: that altitude changes Corvina. The Alta project gave that argument a rigorous physical basis, and Peratara is the wine where it becomes audible. Twenty minutes from Verona, and a world away from the valley floor.

Sources

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