Italy · Valpolicella & Bardolino (Verona hills)

Societa Agricola IL Sasso di Bellamoli Diego e Stefano & C. S.a.s.

A 10-hectare organic estate on calcarenite terraces in the historic Valpolicella Classica hills, making three wines from Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella with no wood and no chemical additives.

The producer

Stefano Bellamoli farms 10 hectares of south-facing terraces at 300 metres in the Valpolicella Classica zone, the original historic core of the appellation in the hills northwest of Verona. The soil is shallow: a few centimetres of organic matter above yellow calcarenite bedrock, rocky enough that vine roots push deep into fractured limestone to find water. Organic farming, green manuring, and wild species replanting around the vineyard perimeter keep the soil active and alive. Fermentation starts from a pied-de-cuve seeded with only indigenous yeasts, and the wines develop in concrete tanks and stoneware vessels for up to 12 months. No wood is used at any stage. No chemical substances enter the cellar during ageing or filtration.

Most estates in the region anchor their reputation to Amarone. Il Sasso makes Amarone too, but it treats the Valpolicella Classico, pale, high in acidity, vivid with red-cherry fruit, as the truest account of what the calcarenite hillside produces. The range progresses through a Superiore made from fresh grapes to an Amarone built on four months of grape drying, but the logic runs outward from the lightest wine rather than upward toward the heaviest. Serve the Classico cool, with food.

Known for

Fresh, high-acid Valpolicella from calcarenite terraces and spontaneous fermentation, with no wood at any level of the range.

Notable facts

The story

The Chilled Classico

In Valpolicella, the wine that carries the weight is Amarone: four months of drying, years of ageing, a price to reflect both. When a producer from the Classica hills releases an Amarone alongside a Superiore and a Classico, the commercial logic almost always puts the dried-grape wine at the front of the range. Stefano Bellamoli at Il Sasso goes the other way. The Valpolicella Classico, a pale, high-acid, red-fruited wine from rocky calcarenite terraces at 300 metres, is described on the estate's own pages as good to serve chilled: a suggestion that places it firmly at the table rather than on a pedestal. On a hillside where the topsoil is measured in centimetres and the bedrock is almost always rock, the Classico is where Il Sasso's argument starts.

From the atlas

Società Agricola Il Sasso

At A Glance

The Producer

Stefano Bellamoli farms 10 hectares of terraced hillside in the Valpolicella Classica zone, the original historic core of the appellation in the hills northwest of Verona. Most estates in the region build their reputation on Amarone, the wine made from dried grapes that commands the highest prices and the most column inches. Il Sasso makes Amarone too, but it treats the Valpolicella Classico, its lightest and most transparent wine, as the truest argument for what its vineyards produce.

The choice is not contrarian for its own sake. The rocky calcarenite soil, the 300-metre altitude, and the south-facing terraces all push Corvina toward high acidity and vivid red fruit rather than the sheer density that suits long drying. The Classico captures that character directly. The Amarone is a separate category, built on four months of grape drying and a different set of demands.

Organic farming, indigenous yeasts, concrete and stoneware ageing, and a complete refusal of oak connect every wine in the range to the same set of decisions made in the vineyard rather than adjusted in the cellar.

Place

Valpolicella Classica is the original production zone for Valpolicella, a set of valleys running northwest from Verona into the foothills of the Lessini mountains. The Classica hills are distinguished from the broader Valpolicella DOC by their steeper terrain, older plantings, and the calcarenite limestone that underlies most of the hillside soils.

Il Sasso sits at 300 metres, high enough to preserve acidity in Corvina even through warm growing seasons. The soil above the yellow calcarenite is shallow, sometimes only a few centimetres of grassy cover before the rock begins. Roots push deep to find water and nutrients, producing fruit with concentration and mineral grip rather than soft extracted body.

South-facing terraces maximise sun exposure on the hillside but the altitude and the lean soil prevent over-ripening. The combination gives the grapes the fruit weight for Valpolicella Classico and, at the extremes of the range, enough raw material for Amarone after months of controlled drying.

Soil And Site

The bedrock throughout the Il Sasso vineyards is yellow calcarenite, a sedimentary limestone common in the Valpolicella Classica hills. The topsoil layer is thin: a few centimetres of grass and organic matter above the rock. Vines trained to Guyot on stone-terraced slopes have limited topsoil volume to draw from, so root systems go down into fractured limestone where mineral exchange is direct and water retention is low.

Calcarenite soils contribute to the high natural acidity in Corvina at this site, and to a pale colour and transparent body in the Classico that distinguishes it from valley-floor Valpolicella grown on deeper alluvial ground.

Story

Il Sasso built its approach around a specific reading of the Valpolicella Classica landscape: that the calcarenite hills, farmed organically and left to express themselves through concrete and stoneware ageing, produce wines that need no wood and no chemical intervention to be complete.

The estate farms its 10 hectares entirely to organic standards. Green manuring is used regularly, and wild plant species have been replanted around the vineyard perimeter to rebuild soil biodiversity and encourage a living, active environment beneath the vines. The objective is not certification for its own sake but a vineyard where microbial life in the soil translates into more complex fermentations and more expressive fruit.

Fermentation is initiated with a pied-de-cuve, a small volume of must seeded with only the estate's own indigenous yeasts, rather than commercial yeast strains. This choice means fermentation runs on the microflora native to the Il Sasso vineyard, preserving a flavour character tied to the specific site rather than a standardised inoculation profile.

The decision to age entirely in concrete tanks and stoneware vessels, with no oak contact at any level of the range, keeps the fruit from being overlaid with vanilla, toast or the drying tannin grip that new or active wood introduces. What arrives in the glass is Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella from calcarenite limestone at altitude, without a secondary layer of cellar flavour imposed over the top.

Vineyards And Cellar

Guyot training on south-facing terraced slopes allows individual vine management and limits yield per plant compared to the Pergola Veronese system once common in the region. Lower yields from rocky calcarenite soil produce smaller berry clusters with more concentrated juice and sharper acidity in the Corvina, which forms the backbone of all three wines.

Harvest timing determines which wine a parcel of fruit becomes. Grapes for the Classico are picked fresh and fermented immediately, preserving the high acidity and red-cherry lightness of the vintage. Grapes destined for the Superiore come from older vines or later picking, adding concentration without abandoning the fresh-fruit character. For Amarone, selected fruit goes into drying rooms for up to four months, concentrating sugars and shifting the flavour register toward darker fruit, dried cherry, and spice before fermentation begins.

In the cellar, fermentation starts spontaneously from the pied-de-cuve, then the wines develop in concrete tanks and stoneware barrels for up to 12 months. No wood is used at any stage. No chemical substances are used in ageing or filtration. Across the range, acidity, fruit weight and mineral grip from the calcarenite site come through clearly, without oak or additive intervention.

Wines

Il Sasso produces three wines, each marking a different point on the Valpolicella spectrum from fresh to dried-grape.

Valpolicella Classico DOC is the lightest wine in the range and the one the estate treats as its most direct statement of place. It is pale in colour, high in acidity, and vivid with red-cherry and red-berry fruit from Corvina grown on calcarenite at altitude. The producer recommends serving it chilled, a suggestion that signals the freshness and the lack of extracted weight. The estate describes it as light, fresh, acidic, rich in red fruits, and good served chilled.

Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC is made entirely from fresh grapes, not dried. The 2020 vintage carries 45% Corvina, 35% Corvinone, and 20% Rondinella. It adds concentration to the range: the palate opens with red cherry and moves into dried-cherry fruit, spice, undergrowth and a thread of medicinal herb. The acidity is present but the mid-palate has more weight and the finish extends longer than the Classico. The Superiore is the most intense wine Il Sasso makes from undried fruit.

Amarone della Valpolicella DOC stands apart from the two fresh-grape wines. Grapes are dried for up to four months, concentrating sugars significantly before fermentation begins. Dried grapes bring greater sugar concentration, higher alcohol, darker fruit, denser tannin, and the ability to develop over years in bottle. The calcarenite acidity is still present beneath the density, which prevents the wine from becoming heavy or syrupy at the finish.

In The Glass

The Classico opens with bright, transparent red fruit: cherry, red berry, a floral lift. It is pale in colour, and that translucency extends to the palate, which is light-bodied, high in acidity, and clean on the finish. The acidity comes from Corvina grown at altitude on shallow calcarenite, and it keeps the wine alive and direct rather than soft or extracted. There is no oak character anywhere in the wine.

The Superiore carries more weight. The same three grapes at higher concentration produce sour cherry, dried cherry, and a spice note alongside undergrowth and medicinal herb. The palate is juicy and balanced, with better length than the Classico and a more sustained finish. The additional concentration comes from fruit character rather than wood, keeping the wine within the same idiom as the Classico but at a different volume.

Amarone moves into a separate register entirely. Dried grapes bring greater sugar concentration, higher alcohol, darker fruit, denser tannin, and the ability to develop over years in bottle. The calcarenite acidity is still present beneath the density, which prevents the wine from becoming heavy or syrupy at the finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Valpolicella Classico DOC. It is pale red, transparent, high in acidity, and built entirely around red-cherry fruit from Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella grown on shallow calcarenite soil at 300 metres. No wood, no additives, concrete ageing, and spontaneous fermentation from indigenous yeasts mean what is in the glass is the vineyard unmediated. Serve it cool, with food, without ceremony. The Classico makes the estate's argument more directly than the Superiore or the Amarone: this is what the Valpolicella Classica hillside tastes like when the cellar stays out of the way.

Anecdote

In Valpolicella, the wine that carries the reputation is Amarone: four months of drying, years of ageing, a label price to reflect both. When a producer from the Classica hills releases an Amarone alongside a Superiore and a Classico, the commercial logic almost always puts the dried-grape wine at the front of the range. Stefano Bellamoli at Il Sasso goes the other way. The Valpolicella Classico, a pale, high-acid, red-fruited wine from rocky calcarenite terraces at 300 metres, is described on the estate's own pages as a wine good to serve chilled: a suggestion that places it firmly at the table rather than on a pedestal. The estate presents it as the vineyard's clearest expression, not as the lightest option. On a hillside where the soil is almost entirely rock and the topsoil is measured in centimetres, the Classico is where the argument starts.

Final Word

Il Sasso is a small organic estate on calcarenite terraces in the Valpolicella Classica hills, making three wines from the three native grapes with no wood and no chemical additives at any stage. The range runs from a chilled-ready Classico to an Amarone built on four months of grape drying, with the estate treating its lightest wine as the most honest account of its site. Start with the Classico.

Sources

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