From the atlas
status: review pagetype: produceratlas country: italy region: veneto producerid: tenutecabotta producernumber: "" producerresearchid: tenutecabotta displayname: Tenute Ca'Botta sourceresearchpage: content/producers/researchpages/italy/veneto/wowp000000tenutecabotta20260727.md sourcetemplate: content/templates/writing/atlasproducerpage.md last_updated: 2026 07 27
Tenute Ca'Botta
At A Glance
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| Country | Italy |
| Region | Veneto |
| Appellation | Valpolicella DOC / Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG |
| Village | Near Grezzana |
| Grapes | Corvina Veronese, Corvinone, Rondinella; Riesling (Brescia) |
| Style | Dry appassimento reds |
| Founded | 2009 (first harvest) |
| Vineyards | 20 ha Valpolicella, 5 ha Brescia |
The Producer
Ca'Botta had its first qualifying harvest in 2009, young enough that the estate built its reputation without the inheritance of long classification history or established family prestige. What it built instead was a single consistent idea: every wine in the Valpolicella range comes from dried grapes, and the drying is done by a cellar method the estate developed, tested, and eventually patented.
The vineyards sit on a south west facing slope near Grezzana, between 380 and 520 metres above sea level, planted to Corvina Veronese, Corvinone, and Rondinella, the three indigenous grapes that define Valpolicella. An additional 5 hectares near Brescia grow Riesling. The estate commits its Valpolicella fruit entirely to appassimento production: Amarone at the top, two Ripasso wines below it, all made from grapes that have been harvested by hand and then dried in the cellar.
The patented Fermentino Ca'Botta technique, registered in 2014, is the technical centre of everything Ca'Botta makes. It is a maceration and fermentation method specific to dried fruit, designed to draw out tannins and phenolics more completely than conventional approaches. That technique, run through every bottle, gives the wines a house character that is not primarily about soil or vine age but about what happens in the cellar after the grapes come off the hill.
Place
Valpolicella DOC occupies the hills west and north of Verona in Veneto, where Corvina Veronese, Corvinone, and Rondinella grow on slopes above the Adige plain. The appellation allows both fresh Valpolicella and the more concentrated dried grape styles: Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, made entirely from appassimento fruit, and Ripasso DOC Superiore, refermented on dried grape skins.
Ca'Botta's parcels near Grezzana sit high within Valpolicella, at elevations that reach 520 metres. At that altitude, winds move consistently across the hillside. The estate uses those winds as part of its production logic: grapes harvested later on the slope carry more ripeness, and the air movement aids natural drying once the fruit reaches the cellar. The south west aspect means long afternoon sun, which concentrates sugars and ripeness while the elevation keeps enough acid in the grape to survive full maturation without losing freshness.
For the label, place here means Valpolicella DOC for the Ripasso wines and Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG for the flagship. Both appellations require the dried grape method that defines the Ca'Botta range.
Soil And Site
The Grezzana parcels sit on calcareous, well drained soils that support slow grape maturation through the growing season. Calcium rich substrates typically keep vine vigour in check and sharpen the mineral character of the fruit. Good drainage at this elevation means roots work deep into the hillside rather than sitting in surface moisture. The combination of free draining limestone soil, altitude winds, and south west exposure is presented as the natural foundation for Ca'Botta's late harvest and appassimento approach.
Story
Ca'Botta's founding year is also its first production year. The 2009 harvest qualified directly for Amarone della Valpolicella DOC production, which meant the estate entered the market's most demanding dried grape appellation from the outset, not after a period of making lighter Valpolicella.
By 2013, four years into production, the cellar had developed a proprietary approach to fermenting and macerating dried grapes. The first premium wines produced under that technique were bottled that year. One year later, in 2014, Ca'Botta filed for and received a patent on the method, now called Fermentino Ca'Botta. A winery fewer than ten years old with a registered intellectual property claim on its cellar technique is unusual in a region where most producers work from inherited practices and hillside patrimony.
The estate's trajectory from first harvest to patent in five years is the clearest statement of what Ca'Botta is: a young producer whose differentiation comes from the cellar rather than from the vineyard's age or a historical classification.
Vineyards And Cellar
All 20 Valpolicella hectares are harvested by hand. After harvest, grapes move into the cellar for appassimento, the extended drying process that reduces water content in the fruit, concentrating sugars, tannins, and aromatics before fermentation begins. At Ca'Botta, drying happens under natural conditions, with altitude winds providing the air circulation that keeps the grapes healthy through the drying period.
Fermentation and maceration proceed through the Fermentino Ca'Botta method, the patented technique designed to extract tannins and phenolics from dried fruit more completely than standard approaches allow. Dried grapes have different physical characteristics than fresh ones: tighter skins, higher sugar concentration, lower free moisture. The Fermentino method addresses that altered starting material directly.
After bottling, all Ca'Botta wines rest for at least six months at controlled temperature before release. The rest period lets the tannins that emerge from intensive dried grape extraction soften and integrate, producing a rounder palate by the time the wine reaches the glass.
Wines
The Ca'Botta range is built around three dried grape reds and a Riesling from the Brescia holding.
Cajo' Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG is the flagship. A dry red from 100% appassimento dried Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, and Corvinone, it is matured in 225 litre French barriques and bottled at 16% alcohol. The producer describes the wine as dense and highly concentrated, with an almost black colour. An independent review of the 2016 vintage scored it 90 to 91 out of 100, finding crushed cassis, blackberry, strawberry, and concentrated black fruit aromatics.
Costa Rossa Valpolicella Ripasso DOC Superiore sits one step below. The same varietal blend undergoes a second fermentation on the pressed dried skins left over from the Cajo' Amarone production. Matured in 225 litre French barriques, it carries dark red colour with violet, dried cherry, spice, and a full, round mouthfeel.
ALTA Valpolicella Ripasso DOC Superiore uses a two stage seasonal fermentation: a first fermentation in November and a second on Amarone grape skins in January. Also matured in French barriques, ALTA shows dark ruby, dried fruit, chocolate, and a warming palate.
Both Ripasso wines are physically connected to the Amarone. Their second fermentation uses the pressed skins from the Cajo' Amarone batch, which means the flagship's dried fruit completes two fermentative rounds before the production cycle ends.
In The Glass
The Cajo' Amarone opens with crushed cassis, blackberry, and strawberry, then shifts into concentrated black fruit depth. On the palate, the wine is dense and full bodied, with the high alcohol of 16% absorbed into the concentration rather than sitting separately. The mandatory post bottling rest integrates the tannins that intensive dried grape extraction produces. The finish is long and warming.
Costa Rossa is lighter in body than the Amarone but carries the characteristic dried fruit signature of the appassimento method. Dried cherry and spice lead, with violet on the colour and a round, full mouthfeel from the Ripasso refermentation on Amarone skins. It drinks with more immediate approachability than the flagship.
ALTA shows the effect of the two stage fermentation schedule: darker ruby, dried fruit, chocolate, and warmth that sits between the immediacy of Costa Rossa and the weight of the Amarone. The January secondary fermentation adds complexity that Costa Rossa's single stage process does not produce.
Across all three reds, the appassimento method creates wines with high alcohol, concentrated colour, dried fruit aromatics, and dense tannin, softened before release by the cellar's six month post bottling rest.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with Cajo' Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG. It is a dry red from 100% appassimento dried Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, and Corvinone, matured in 225 litre French barriques and bottled at 16% alcohol. The 2016 vintage earned a score of 90 to 91 out of 100 and showed crushed cassis, blackberry, and concentrated black fruit character.
The reason to begin here is that Cajo' Amarone is the technical and physical source of everything else Ca'Botta makes. The Fermentino Ca'Botta method runs through this bottle first. The dried skins left after Amarone fermentation feed both Ripasso wines. To taste the Amarone is to taste the starting point of the range, and to understand what the cellar method is doing at full concentration and full alcohol.
Anecdote
In 2013, Ca'Botta bottled its first premium wines using a maceration and fermentation technique the cellar had spent several years developing for dried grapes. The method had already proved itself: tannin and phenolic extraction from appassimento fruit was measurably more complete than what conventional approaches produced, and the wines showed it. The estate filed for a patent in 2014 and received it. The technique was registered as Fermentino Ca'Botta and written into every production protocol the estate uses. Ca'Botta was five years old when it filed the claim. The patent came after the bottles, not before.
Final Word
Ca'Botta is a young Valpolicella estate with a narrow focus and a patented cellar technique. Every bottle in the red range comes from dried grapes processed through Fermentino Ca'Botta. The Amarone is the anchor, the two Ripasso wines depend on it physically, and the six month post bottling rest shapes the tannin profile across all three. The range is small, the idea is consistent, and the entry point is clear.
Sources
https://cabottavini.com/aboutcabotta/ https://www.winedering.com/winerytenutecabottad6547 https://cabottavini.com/wine/tenutacajoamarone dellavalpolicelladocg/ https://cabottavini.com/wine/tenutacostarossavalpolicellaripassodocsuperiore/ https://cabottavini.com/wine/valpolicellaripassodocsuperiorealta/ https://vertdevin.com/en/vins/tenuteca botta cajo'2016 amarone dellavalpolicella2/