Italy · Valpolicella & Bardolino (Verona hills)

Tedeschi

Tedeschi farms hillside vineyards across three named properties in Valpolicella, producing Amarone and Valpolicella wines from native Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella. The estate has vinified Amarone from its Monte Olmi terraces since 1964.

The producer

In Pedemonte di Valpolicella, at the heart of the Classica zone in the Veneto, Tedeschi is a family wine estate with Valpolicella roots traced to 1630. The modern winery took shape in the 1960s by Lorenzo Tedeschi, who recognised that Monte Olmi, a vineyard the family had held since 1918, was producing something the rest of the estate was not. He vinified its sun-exposed terraces separately, labelled the result under the vineyard name, and the first Amarone Capitel Monte Olmi appeared in 1964. That decision established the working logic the estate still follows: named vineyards and hillside altitude, not appellation reputation, are how Tedeschi separates one wine from another.

Three siblings now run the estate across clear roles: Antonietta leads Italian market strategy, Sabrina covers international markets, and Riccardo, the family enologist, manages technical direction. Almost all vineyards sit between 200 and 500 metres across three properties: Monte Olmi and La Fabriseria in Valpolicella Classica, and the 84-hectare Maternigo property in the eastern Valpolicella DOC. The range spans five Amarones, Valpolicella Superiore, Ripasso, and a lighter Valpolicella, with around 41,500 cases produced annually.

Known for

Single-vineyard Amarone, Maternigo Valpolicella Superiore

Notable facts

The story

The Terrace Decision

Lorenzo Tedeschi had been watching Monte Olmi's upper terraces for years when he made his decision in the 1960s. The vineyard had been in the family since 1918, a sun-exposed slope in Pedemonte at the centre of Valpolicella Classica, but it had never been vinified apart from the rest of the estate's fruit. Lorenzo was convinced the terraced upper section, with its direct southern exposure and the concentrated heat it held through the growing season, was producing grapes different enough to deserve their own fermentation. In 1964 he bottled the result separately and put the vineyard name on the label: Amarone Capitel Monte Olmi. Appellation-labelled blends were the regional convention; a single-vineyard Amarone committed to an estate name was not. The wine has been bottled continuously from that vintage forward, and the same terraces that Lorenzo separated from the rest of the estate more than sixty years ago still supply Amarone Capitel Monte Olmi today.

From the atlas

Tedeschi

At A Glance

The Producer

In Pedemonte di Valpolicella, a village at the heart of the Classica zone in the Veneto, Tedeschi is a family wine estate that traces its Valpolicella activity to 1630. The modern version of the winery was shaped in the 1960s by Lorenzo Tedeschi, who decided that Monte Olmi, a vineyard the family had held since 1918, was producing something the rest of the estate was not. He vinified its sun-exposed terraces separately, labelled the result under the vineyard name, and the first Amarone Capitel Monte Olmi appeared in 1964.

That decision established the working logic the estate still follows: named vineyards and hillside altitude, not appellation reputation, are how Tedeschi separates one wine from another. Three siblings now run the estate across clear roles. Antonietta has led Italian market strategy for more than thirty years. Sabrina covers international markets. Riccardo, the family enologist, manages the technical direction of the wines.

Place

Valpolicella is a hilly zone immediately northwest of Verona. The Classica zone covers the original western hillside communes, including San Pietro in Cariano, where Monte Olmi sits, and Fumane, where La Fabriseria was planted in the early 2000s. The DOC extends the zone eastward into communes including Tregnago and Mezzane di Sotto, where the Maternigo property lies.

That east-west distinction matters on the label. Classica wines draw from the original, tighter hillside area; DOC wines, including those from Maternigo, come from a broader and geologically varied extension. Both categories are made from the same native varieties, Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella, but the altitude, soil mix, and exposition vary enough that the wines read differently. Tedeschi keeps the two zones separated at the vineyard and bottle level rather than blending across them.

Altitude is the consistent variable across all three properties. Almost all Tedeschi vineyards sit between 200 and 500 metres. Four hectares within the broader holding, used for an easy-drinking Valpolicella without appassimento, are the exception. Everything intended as a terroir wine comes from slopes.

Soil And Site

Monte Olmi is a terraced vineyard with sun-facing exposition in Pedemonte, a commune within San Pietro in Cariano and the Classica zone. The terraces were identified by Lorenzo Tedeschi as producing grapes with distinct concentration and character compared to the surrounding hillside. The vineyard was acquired by the family in 1918 and has supplied the estate's flagship Amarone continuously since 1964.

La Fabriseria occupies a parcel at Le Pontare, between Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella and Fumane, also in the Classica zone. The family planted it in the early 2000s.

Maternigo, in the eastern Valpolicella DOC, is an 84-hectare property with roughly 33 to 34 hectares under vine. Its soils are calcareous with loam and clay, and the family has commissioned a detailed study of variation across the property, mapping how soil type and exposition shift from parcel to parcel.

Story

The Tedeschi family placed its name on Valpolicella wine as early as 1630, a date that marks sustained activity in the zone rather than a formal estate founding. For centuries the family worked within the conventions of the region, supplying wine without particular emphasis on which hillside it came from.

Lorenzo Tedeschi changed that in the 1960s. He recognised that the terraced, south-facing upper section of Monte Olmi consistently produced grapes different from the rest of the estate's hillside holdings, and he separated the fermentation. In 1964 he committed that decision to a label: Amarone Capitel Monte Olmi. Single-vineyard Amarone was uncommon in the region at the time, and the choice was a break from the appellation-blend model that dominated local production.

The estate has retained 500 to 1,000 bottles from every vintage since 2005, building an archive that held around 20,000 bottles by 2025. The archive serves two functions: it records how each vintage ages, and it provides a reference library for the terroir research the family has continued across all three properties. The Maternigo study, which mapped soil and exposition variation across the 84-hectare eastern property, is one outcome of that documentary approach.

Vineyards And Cellar

All hillside terroir wines are produced exclusively from grapes grown on slopes, a distinction the family makes explicit. The four valley-floor hectares yield a lighter, early-drinking Valpolicella that sits outside the named-vineyard range.

Amarone is produced by drying the harvested grapes, a process called appassimento, typically for three to four months before fermentation. Drying concentrates sugar, colour, and flavour, and the resulting wine is dry despite the high potential alcohol, with deep, dark fruit, firm body, and tannin that requires time in the bottle. Capitel Monte Olmi is fermented from the terraced Monte Olmi grapes and aged before release as Amarone DOCG.

Ripasso wines are refermented over Amarone pomace, adding dried-fruit weight and body to a Valpolicella Superiore base. The Maternigo Valpolicella Superiore, blended from 40% Corvina, 30% Corvinone, and 30% Rondinella from the eastern property, reflects the calcareous-loam soil of that site and is aged before release as a Superiore.

The Maternigo terroir study has informed how the family reads the property: understanding where the calcareous fraction is heaviest, where clay modifies drainage, and which expositions ripen at different rates gives the cellar team a map to work from rather than a single averaged result.

Wines

The range is organised around three vineyard sources and five Amarone expressions.

Capitel Monte Olmi is the flagship Amarone, drawn from the terraced, south-facing upper section of Monte Olmi in Pedemonte. It is a Classica wine built on Corvina-led appassimento fruit: concentrated dark cherry, dried plum, and bitter chocolate, with firm tannin, high body, and the depth to develop over a decade or more. La Fabriseria is the second single-vineyard Classica Amarone, from the Le Pontare parcel between Sant'Ambrogio and Fumane; planted more recently, it brings a somewhat different hillside character than the older Monte Olmi terraces.

The Maternigo label covers wines from the eastern DOC property. The Maternigo Valpolicella Superiore, the most accessible named-vineyard wine in the range, is made from the 40% Corvina, 30% Corvinone, 30% Rondinella blend and aged to qualify as Superiore: fuller than a standard Valpolicella, with dried-fruit lift and enough tannin to benefit from decanting, but without the weight and alcohol of a full Amarone.

The Ripasso wines add another step: refermentation over Amarone pomace amplifies body and dark-fruit richness in a Valpolicella Superiore base, producing a middle register between the lightest Valpolicella and Amarone proper.

A lighter Valpolicella, produced from the four valley-floor hectares without appassimento, completes the range at the entry level.

In The Glass

Capitel Monte Olmi opens with dried cherry, bitter chocolate, and dried rose, the characteristic profile of Corvina-led appassimento from a warm, terraced hillside. The palate is full and dark, with firm tannin and a long, slightly bitter finish that is typical of serious Amarone from Classica sites. The wine needs years to soften, and bottles from a good vintage carry that depth across a decade.

The Maternigo Valpolicella Superiore shows black cherry, redcurrant and plum, underpinned by mineral and spicy notes. The palate is round, with present acidity and fine tannins.

The Ripasso expressions carry the dried-fruit lift of the pomace refermentation alongside the base Valpolicella character: darker than Superiore, richer in body, with bitter cherry and cocoa on the finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Maternigo Valpolicella Superiore. It is made from the three native varieties, Corvina at 40%, Corvinone at 30%, Rondinella at 30%, grown on the calcareous hillside parcels of the 84-hectare eastern property between Tregnago and Mezzane di Sotto. Aged to Superiore qualification, it is fuller than a table Valpolicella and carries the dried-plum lift of hillside farming without the weight and tannin demand of an Amarone. Black cherry, redcurrant, and plum come first, underpinned by mineral notes. The palate is round, with present acidity and fine tannins. The finish is long and tart. Decant it briefly and drink it with food. It makes the Tedeschi farming argument in the most direct way possible, at a price that does not require the commitment of Amarone bottles.

Anecdote

Lorenzo Tedeschi had been watching Monte Olmi's upper terraces for years when he made his decision in the 1960s. The vineyard had been in the family since 1918, a sun-exposed slope in Pedemonte at the centre of Valpolicella Classica, but it had never been vinified apart from the rest of the estate's fruit. Lorenzo was convinced the terraced upper section, with its direct southern exposure and the concentrated heat it held through the growing season, was producing grapes different enough to deserve their own fermentation. In 1964 he bottled the result separately and put the vineyard name on the label: Amarone Capitel Monte Olmi. Appellation-labelled blends were the regional convention; a single-vineyard Amarone committed to an estate name was not. The wine has been bottled continuously from that vintage forward, and the same terraces that Lorenzo separated from the rest of the estate more than sixty years ago still supply Amarone Capitel Monte Olmi today.

Final Word

Tedeschi's argument is physical rather than hierarchical: altitude, named hillsides, and the specific character of each property's soils and exposition produce wines different enough to be kept separate from the valley floor and from each other. The range is built on that premise, and Monte Olmi, held since 1918 and bottled as a single-vineyard Amarone since 1964, is where the argument began.

Sources

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