Italy · Valpolicella & Bardolino (Verona hills)

La Giaretta

Family estate in Valgatara making estate-bottled Amarone and IGT wines from ten hectares of classic Valpolicella hillside.

The producer

La Giaretta is a self-contained family estate in Valgatara, a hill village in the classic Valpolicella zone of the Veneto. Bruno Vaona built the business from the late 1950s, choosing to bottle under the estate name at a time when most of the valley's wine left in bulk. The family has continued since, farming ten hectares across three communes: six in Marano di Valpolicella, two in Negrar, and two in San Pietro in Cariano, all at around 200 metres on alluvial, stony, and morainic soils. Every wine is estate-grown and estate-bottled.

The range builds from fresh Valpolicella Classico through Ripasso to two Amarone expressions, a red Recioto, and two IGT wines. Oseleta IGT Rosso Veronese is a single-variety wine from an indigenous Veronese grape, bottled outside the Valpolicella appellation rules. Cor di Vin 95 IGT Rosso Veronese uses late-harvested traditional grapes (95%) with 5% Marselan, a crossing of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache, and ages for about 15 months in French oak. Grapes for Ripasso and Amarone are dried in a climate-controlled facility with computer-regulated ventilation, pressing in January after several months of concentration. New barriques go first to the top Amarone cuvee, I Quadretti, then cycle down through the range as the oak softens.

Known for

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico from estate-owned hillside vineyards, with Oseleta IGT and Cor di Vin 95 IGT wines also in the range.

Notable facts

From the atlas

La Giaretta

At A Glance

The Producer

La Giaretta is a family estate in Valgatara, a hill village at the heart of the classic Valpolicella zone in the Veneto. Bruno Vaona built the business from the late 1950s. The family has continued since, farming ten hectares of estate-owned vineyards and bottling exclusively from their own fruit.

The estate works in a part of Italy where Amarone shapes everything: how grapes are grown, how they are dried, how long they wait in wood, and what reaches the table. La Giaretta's range runs from a fresh Valpolicella Classico through Ripasso to two Amarone expressions, a red Recioto dessert wine, and two single-variety IGT wines that sit outside the classic Valpolicella appellation altogether.

Place

Valpolicella Classico is the western, hillside section of the Valpolicella production zone, the part that existed before the appellation expanded onto the plains. Valgatara sits in the commune of Marano di Valpolicella, which holds six of La Giaretta's ten hectares. The remaining four are split between Negrar to the east and San Pietro in Cariano to the south, two communes that add different fruit characters to the sourcing pool.

All the vineyards sit at around 200 metres elevation. At that height, nights cool sharply after warm afternoons, slowing ripening and preserving the acidity that keeps Valpolicella from feeling heavy. The label Classico on both the Valpolicella and Amarone signals hillside origin, a distinction that matters in a zone where valley-floor fruit is also legally entitled to call itself Valpolicella.

Soil And Site

The soils across the estate are alluvial, stony, and morainic, the mix left by glacial and river action across the valley. Morainic soils drain well and warm quickly, favouring even ripening. The stony content keeps water stress moderate and roots working downward. Between the vine rows, La Giaretta plants grass deliberately to create root competition, pushing the vines deeper into the subsoil for water and minerals rather than feeding at the surface.

Story

Bruno Vaona started La Giaretta in the late 1950s, at a point when much of the wine produced in Valpolicella left the valley in bulk. His decision to bottle under the estate name placed the family on the side of origin and specificity rather than volume. That commitment has carried forward: the estate today bottles only from its own grapes, a multi-generation practice in a zone where many producers still buy fruit or wine from outside.

Over time, the cellar evolved to match the demands of appassimento at scale. Drying grapes for Ripasso and Amarone requires precise control of airflow and humidity across weeks of concentration. La Giaretta moved to a computer-controlled ventilation system in the drying facility, replacing older methods and giving the estate consistent control over how much water leaves the grape and how slowly.

Vineyards And Cellar

Grapes for Ripasso and Amarone are hand-harvested and transferred to the winery's drying facility, where computer-controlled ventilation governs airflow during the appassimento process. Drying concentrates sugar, glycerol, and dried-fruit character while reducing juice volume. For the Amarone Classico, grapes rest on wooden racks until January before pressing, giving a drying window of several months.

In the cellar, La Giaretta uses steel tanks and older wooden casks for most of the range. Steel preserves fruit and acidity. Older wood adds micro-oxygenation without imparting strong flavour. The Amarone Classico rests at least two years in wood before bottle refinement. New barriques are reserved entirely for the top Amarone, I Quadretti, and then cycle down through the range as they lose the intensity of new oak. A barrel that aged I Quadretti becomes a vessel for other wines the following vintage, carrying only trace character rather than dominant wood.

Wines

The range builds upward from Valpolicella to Amarone in a sequence that reflects how much of the appassimento process each wine uses.

Valpolicella DOC Classico Superiore is the entry-level red: Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella from the classic zone, fresh and relatively light in body, with the cherry and herb character the blend gives before drying enters the picture.

Valpolicella DOC Volpare is a second Valpolicella expression from the same native varieties.

Valpolicella Ripasso DOC Classico Superiore takes Valpolicella wine and referments it on the pressed skins and pulp left over from Amarone production. The pomace refermentation adds body, dried-fruit depth, and tannin to what would otherwise be a lighter wine, producing something richer than the entry Valpolicella without the full weight of Amarone.

Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico is the anchor of the range: Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella, hand-harvested, dried for several months on wooden racks, pressed in January, and aged at least two years in older wooden casks before bottle. The Amarone Classico is a full-bodied, concentrated red with pronounced dried-fruit weight and firm tannin, built to age.

Amarone I Quadretti is the top expression, distinguished by new-barrique maturation that adds a layer of toasted oak and additional textural density before those barrels move down the range.

Oseleta IGT Rosso Veronese is a single-variety wine from Oseleta, an indigenous Veronese grape, bottled outside the Valpolicella appellation rules.

Cor di Vin 95 IGT Rosso Veronese uses late-harvested traditional grapes (95%) with 5% Marselan, a crossing of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache, and ages for about 15 months in French oak.

Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG Classico completes the dessert range: Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella dried and pressed to produce a sweet red with concentrated cherry, plum, and cocoa character and firm underlying tannin.

In The Glass

The Valpolicella Classico opens with fresh red cherry and dried herb, light on its feet with bright acidity and moderate tannin. It drinks young, with the lift that hillside fruit at 200 metres delivers.

The Ripasso carries more weight: darker fruit, a hint of fig and tobacco from the pomace contact, broader tannin, and a mid-palate density that the entry Valpolicella does not reach. It sits between the two Amarone expressions in body without quite reaching their concentration.

The Amarone Classico is where appassimento fully shows its work. Dried cherry, dark plum, and walnut on the nose. In the mouth, the wine is full-bodied and warm, with glycerol-rich texture from the concentrating process, firm tannin that needs years to soften, and a long finish with dried-fruit and earth. Acidity holds the whole wine upright, preventing the weight from becoming heavy.

A Bottle To Understand It

Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico is the right first bottle. It is what the estate builds toward: ten hectares of Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella, hand-picked and dried on wooden racks in a ventilated facility until January, then pressed and aged at least two years in older wooden casks. The wine is full-bodied, with dried-cherry and dark-plum fruit, glycerol-rich texture from the months of concentration, firm tannin, and a long finish with earth and dried herbs. The acidity keeps it from feeling inert. It is not a wine to open young. Four or five years from the vintage is a reasonable starting point, and good vintages hold comfortably beyond a decade.

Final Word

La Giaretta is a compact, self-contained Valpolicella estate whose range is built entirely around the appassimento tradition. The Amarone Classico anchors the lineup. The family has bottled exclusively from its own land for several generations. Start with the Amarone Classico to understand what the estate does, then work outward.

Sources

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