Luigi Righetti

The story

The 1985 Decision

In 1985 Gianmaria Righetti walked into a winemaking role with three generations of Valpolicella Classico behind him and a single specific ambition: he wanted one of the estate's hillside plots to have its own label. Valpolicella in the mid-1980s had a poor reputation, associated with cheap bulk wine rather than with the labour-intensive drying that turns fresh Corvina into Amarone. The existing estate Amarone was already well regarded locally, but Gianmaria believed one particular plot, Capitel de' Roari, deserved to be separated from the blend and bottled on its own. He had no press release or launch event. He simply began sourcing the bunches from that site separately, drying them in the same shallow wooden crates but apart from the rest, and bottling the result under the plot name. The cuvée has remained at the top of the estate's range ever since, and the estate's name is still that of his father.

From the atlas

Luigi Righetti

At A Glance

The Producer

Luigi Righetti sits in Valgatara, one of the villages at the heart of the Valpolicella Classico zone. The family has been making wine on these hillsides since 1909, when Angelo Righetti built a local reputation from the limestone slopes above the valley. That reputation is now five generations deep.

The estate runs a clear vertical: Valpolicella Classico at the base, a Ripasso called Campolieti in the middle, the standard Amarone della Valpolicella Classico above it, and at the top, Capitel de' Roari, a single-vineyard Amarone drawn from one named hillside plot. Each step up adds concentration, drying time, and cellar age. The range is built around Corvina, which anchors every red on the list, blended with Rondinella and, in the Campolieti, a small share of Molinara. The estate also grows international varieties, though these appear elsewhere in the portfolio rather than in the core appassimento wines.

Gianmaria and Giuseppe Righetti run the estate today alongside their father Luigi. They farm organically, without pesticides or fungicides, and use minimal sulfur in the cellar.

Place

Valpolicella Classico is the original, western zone of the Valpolicella DOC, defined by hillside vineyards rather than the flat valley floor of the broader appellation. The Classico designation matters on the label because it tells you the grapes came from higher, older sites with better drainage and more complex soils. Valgatara falls within this zone, its vineyards climbing limestone slopes that push acidity into the fruit and give the Valpolicella its characteristic lift.

The pergola Veronese, the traditional training system across the zone, runs the vines on high horizontal trellises. This keeps the canopy off the ground, manages air circulation, and produces grapes with naturally lighter colour extraction than low-trained vines. The result for Valpolicella Classico is a lighter-bodied red: not thin, but bright and food-oriented, with red cherry ahead of dark fruit.

For Amarone, place interacts with process. The same hillside grapes that produce a lively Valpolicella Classico become a very different wine once they have spent three to five months drying in wooden crates. The limestone acidity that characterises the raw fruit survives the appassimento and reappears in the finished wine, keeping Amarone from tipping into pure weight.

Soil And Site

The Valpolicella Classico vineyards sit on hillside limestone soils. Limestone drains well, holds moderate warmth, and pushes vine roots downward rather than outward. At Luigi Righetti, the Valpolicella Classico vines are hand-harvested from these hillside parcels. Specific site names, elevations, and soil profiles for individual parcels are not documented for this estate.

Story

Angelo Righetti was making wine in Valgatara by 1909, selling into a local trade that barely stretched beyond the valley. His son Luigi changed that in the 1940s, becoming the first family member to push production outward, into regional and eventually national markets. It was a modest commercial step at the time, but it shifted the estate's orientation from purely local supply toward something more deliberate.

The larger turning point came in 1985, when Gianmaria Righetti took over winemaking from his father. He inherited an estate already producing Valpolicella Classico and Amarone with a solid local following. His addition was specific: he separated a named hillside plot, Capitel de' Roari, from the standard Amarone production and bottled it as a single-vineyard wine. In the mid-1980s, Valpolicella carried a difficult reputation. The appellation was better known for light, sometimes thin bulk wine than for the slow, costly work of serious appassimento. Releasing a single-vineyard Amarone under its own name was a public statement about what one particular hill could do.

Gianmaria also opened the estate's range toward international markets, adding wines with broader commercial appeal alongside the core regional bottles. Today Gianmaria and Giuseppe work the estate with Luigi, carrying the name of the generation that first pointed the family outward while continuing the appassimento work Gianmaria committed to in 1985.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate farms organically. No pesticides or fungicides go into the Valpolicella Classico hillside parcels, and sulfur use in the cellar is kept low. The Valpolicella Classico vines are trained on the traditional pergola Veronese, harvested by hand, and taken directly to temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats. The stainless-steel approach keeps primary fruit forward: fermentation at controlled temperatures preserves the red cherry character of Corvina and the light herbal lift that hillside limestone tends to give.

For the Amarone, the winemaking begins much earlier in the autumn. Selected bunches are laid into shallow wooden crates and left to dry for three to five months. During this appassimento period, the grapes lose thirty per cent or more of their weight in water. Sugars concentrate, flavour compounds intensify, and tannins harden. The dried fruit is then pressed and fermented dry, which means the winemaker works against a very high sugar load to achieve a wine with no residual sweetness. After fermentation, the Amarone matures in large Slavonian-oak casks. Slavonian oak is wider-grained than French oak; it imparts less vanilla and coconut character and instead allows slow oxidative development that gradually integrates the firm tannins without obscuring the Corvina profile.

The Campolieti Ripasso takes a different route. Valpolicella wine re-ferments on the pressed skins and lees left over from the Amarone, picking up body, dried-fruit depth, and additional tannin without going through the full three-to-five-month drying of a true Amarone.

Wines

Four bottles define the range.

Valpolicella Classico is the daily wine, made entirely in stainless steel from pergola-trained Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara grown on the limestone hillsides. It is pale ruby, light-bodied, and built around fresh red cherry and herbs, with the acidity of hillside limestone keeping it lively. It drinks young and works well at the table.

Campolieti Ripasso (2021: 80% Corvina, 15% Rondinella, 5% Molinara) sits between the Classico and the Amarone in weight and intensity. The ripasso technique adds a second wave of fermentation on Amarone skins, which pushes the wine toward darker fruit, fuller body, and more pronounced tannin than the Classico, while keeping the cost and cellaring requirement well below the Amarone tier.

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (70% Corvina, 20% Rondinella, 10% other indigenous varieties) is the main appassimento wine. Three to five months of drying concentrate everything in the grape. Fermented dry and aged in large Slavonian-oak casks, it carries dense dark fruit, firm tannin from the extended skin contact during drying, and a dry finish that rewards time in bottle.

Capitel de' Roari is the single-vineyard Amarone, introduced after 1985. It draws from one named hillside plot and goes through the same appassimento process as the standard Amarone, but with the additional specificity of a single site. A 2011 review documented charred, resinous character with firm tannin; the estate describes the intended profile as dark and dried fruit with good acidity and a smooth finish.

In The Glass

The Valpolicella Classico pours pale ruby and opens with fresh cherry and a light herb edge, typical of Corvina from limestone hillside sites. The mouth is light to medium in body, with the acidity cutting cleanly through and a short, fruit-forward finish. There is no oak character and no weight beyond what the grape naturally provides.

The Campolieti Ripasso is darker in colour and richer on the nose, with dried cherry and a hint of baking spice from the Amarone skin contact. In the mouth it fills the middle palate more than the Classico, with tannin that is present but not hard, and enough acidity to keep the dried-fruit concentration from feeling heavy.

The standard Amarone is a different conversation. Three to five months of drying means the aromas open on concentrated dark cherry, dried fig, and a faint leather note from the long skin contact during appassimento. The Slavonian oak adds a background of oxidative complexity without adding vanilla. In the mouth the wine is full and dry, with firm tannin and a finish that stays long. The limestone acidity underneath gives it a line that prevents the concentration from becoming blunt.

Capitel de' Roari adds single-vineyard specificity to the Amarone profile. The 2011 showed charred and resinous notes with hard tannin, consistent with a wine that needs extended time in bottle before the drying process resolves.

A Bottle To Understand It

The Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is the right first bottle here. It is built from 70% Corvina, 20% Rondinella, and 10% other indigenous varieties, dried in shallow wooden crates for three to five months and matured in large Slavonian-oak casks. No single bottle explains what the family has been doing across generations more directly. The appassimento process is the estate's defining commitment: buying this wine means buying the choice to dry grapes through winter, to ferment against a high sugar load until the wine runs completely dry, and to wait for Slavonian oak to integrate tannin over time. In the glass it is dense but not sweet, with concentrated dark fruit, firm tannin, and a dry finish with an acid line underneath. Start here, then step up to Capitel de' Roari once you know the house style.

Anecdote

In 1985 Gianmaria Righetti walked into a winemaking role with three generations of Valpolicella Classico behind him and a single specific ambition: he wanted one of the estate's hillside plots to have its own label. Valpolicella in the mid-1980s had a poor reputation, associated with cheap bulk wine rather than with the labour-intensive drying that turns fresh Corvina into Amarone. The existing estate Amarone was already well regarded locally, but Gianmaria believed one particular plot, Capitel de' Roari, deserved to be separated from the blend and bottled on its own. He had no press release or launch event. He simply began sourcing the bunches from that site separately, drying them in the same shallow wooden crates but apart from the rest, and bottling the result under the plot name. The cuvée has remained at the top of the estate's range ever since, and the estate's name is still that of his father.

Final Word

Luigi Righetti is a family estate in Valpolicella Classico that has been farming the same limestone hillsides for more than a century. The range runs cleanly from a stainless-steel Valpolicella Classico to a single-vineyard Amarone. The appassimento work is the estate's commitment: slow drying, dry fermentation, Slavonian-oak ageing. The Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is the bottle that carries all of it.

Sources

• https://www.smallwinemakers.ca/product-category/italy/veneto/luigi-righetti/
• https://www.vinotravelsitaly.com/2026/02/valentines-day-luigi-righetti-amarone.html
• https://www.prestigewineimports.com/brand/righetti/
• https://www.smallwinemakers.ca/product/luigi-righetti-amarone-della-valpolicella-classico/
• https://oeno.kork.ca/en/our-wineries/luigi-righetti/valpolicella-ripasso-campolieti/2021
• https://www.wineenthusiast.com/buying-guide/luigi-righetti-2011-capitel-roari-red-amarone-della-valpolicella-classico/