Italy · Valpolicella & Bardolino (Verona hills)

Vini Pietro Clementi

A hillside estate in Marano di Valpolicella farming 14 contiguous hectares of Corvina-dominant vines at altitude, without synthetics, fining, or filtering.

The producer

In 1969, Pietro Clementi was serving as mayor of Marano di Valpolicella when he purchased the Gnirega estate, a 17th-century hillside farm above the village. He farmed Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara on the contiguous 14-hectare block in the traditional Pergola Veronese method, and his three children, Bernardino, Maria and Maurizio, now run everything from the vines to the cellar.

The Gnirega block sits inside the Valpolicella Classico zone at 350 to over 400 metres, with south, southwest and west exposures and calcareous-clay soils too thin and stony to be generous. Two wines come from this single vineyard: a fresh, mineral Valpolicella Classico fermented in stainless and released early, and an Amarone della Valpolicella that spends eight years in the cellar before it leaves the property. No synthetic chemicals, no fining, no filtering. FIVI member since 2017.

Known for

Valpolicella Classico and Amarone della Valpolicella from the Classico zone hillside.

Notable facts

The story

The Mayor's Estate

In 1969, Pietro Clementi was mayor of Marano di Valpolicella when he bought the Gnirega estate, a 17th-century hillside farm sitting above the village. He had a career in Verona and civic duties in Marano, but the Gnirega property pulled him toward the hill. The estate had been worked as a farm for three hundred years before he signed for it. He put the vines under Pergola Veronese training, the method his neighbours had used for generations, and began making wine from Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara without chemicals, fining agents, or filters. His children, Bernardino, Maria and Maurizio, grew up on that hillside and inherited the whole operation: the vines, the cellar, the eight-year Amarone clock, the commitment to leaving the wine unmanipulated. In 2017, the family joined FIVI, the federation for independent winemakers, not because the association required anything they were not already doing, but because belonging to a federation of grower-producers said something about the estate they had spent nearly fifty years building on the same unbroken 14-hectare block above Marano.

From the atlas

Vini Pietro Clementi

At A Glance

EstateGnirega, Marano di Valpolicella
ZoneValpolicella Classico, Veneto
GrapesCorvina 65%, Rondinella 30%, Molinara 5%, Osoleta trace
Vineyards14 contiguous hectares, 350 to over 400 metres
TrainingPergola Veronese
CellarNatural fermentation, no fining, no filtering
Amarone ageing7 years in 30-hectolitre oak, 1 year in bottle
FIVI memberSince 2017

The Producer

In 1969, Pietro Clementi was serving as mayor of Marano di Valpolicella and maintaining a career in Verona when he purchased the Gnirega estate, a 17th-century hillside property sitting above the village. He began farming Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara on the contiguous 14-hectare block in the traditional way his neighbours had used for generations. Pietro's three children, Bernardino, Maria and Maurizio, now run the estate from vines to cellar.

The Gnirega property sits inside the Valpolicella Classico zone, the original hillside territory that predates the expansion of the appellation into the plains. That address matters for what ends up in the glass: hillside fruit at altitude, trained high on the Pergola Veronese, ripens more slowly and retains the acidity that defines the Classico style at its most honest. The estate produces two wines from the same vineyard block: a fresh Valpolicella Classico and an Amarone della Valpolicella that spends eight years in the cellar before release.

Place

Marano di Valpolicella is one of the five original communes of the Valpolicella Classico zone, the elevated western valleys of the province of Verona. The appellation sits apart from the extended Valpolicella DOC territory that was opened to the Veronese plains in the 1960s. Working within the Classico zone means the Clementi vineyards are on the hillsides where the appellation's character was originally defined: higher altitude, steeper gradients, and soils that push vines to concentrate rather than produce abundantly.

At Gnirega, the land runs from 350 metres up to over 400 metres, with exposures facing south, southwest and west. Those aspects keep afternoon sun on the vines through the growing season while the altitude slows ripening and holds freshness in the fruit. The outcome is a hillside Classico with more lift and mineral drive than valley-floor versions of the same appellation, and an Amarone with the underlying acidity to carry its weight over eight years of ageing.

Soil And Site

The Gnirega soils are calcareous and clay with high skeletal content: rocky, naturally infertile, and rich in potassium and calcium. Thin soils with abundant stone force roots deep and limit yields. The calcium and potassium in the parent rock support good fruit development without excessive vegetative growth, which matters for the Pergola Veronese training system, where vigour control is managed through vine behaviour rather than aggressive pruning. The 14 hectares are contiguous, a single unbroken block around the winery, which means consistent soil type and aspect across all the fruit that goes into both wines.

Story

When Pietro Clementi bought the Gnirega property in 1969, the estate was already three centuries old. He took on a working hillside farm with existing vines and an embedded agricultural tradition in a zone that had been producing wine in the same way for generations. The Gnirega estate had been part of that landscape since the 17th century.

Pietro's children grew up on the hillside. By the time Bernardino, Maria and Maurizio took over management, the estate's commitments were already set: traditional training, no synthetic chemicals in the vineyard, hand harvesting, natural fermentation and no fining or filtering in the cellar. In 2017, the family joined FIVI, the Federation of Independent Winemakers, the Italian association of grower-producers who bottle their own wine from their own land. The membership formalised what the Clementi approach had always been: a family farm producing wine without outside grapes, without cellar manipulation, and without shortcuts.

Vineyards And Cellar

The Pergola Veronese training system holds bunches above the ground, shaded by the leaf canopy, and was developed over centuries in the Valpolicella valleys to suit the local growing conditions. It protects fruit from ground heat, maintains humidity around the bunches during drying periods, and allows the extended hang time that Corvina needs to ripen fully at altitude without losing acidity. All fruit is hand-harvested.

In the cellar, fermentation is natural, assisted by pied de cuve if necessary. No synthetic chemicals enter the vineyard. After fermentation, wines are clarified naturally without fining agents or filtration, meaning what goes into the bottle is the unmanipulated wine from the press.

For the Amarone, the same grape blend undergoes the appassimento process before fermentation: grapes are dried to concentrate sugars, flavours and tannins. The wine then spends seven years in 30-hectolitre oak barrels before one further year in bottle. Eight years from harvest to release. The large-format barrels add slow oxidative development without imposing heavy oak flavour, leaving the dried-fruit and spice character of the Corvina blend at the centre.

Wines

The two confirmed wines are the Valpolicella Classico and the Amarone della Valpolicella. Both come from the same 65% Corvina, 30% Rondinella, 5% Molinara and trace Osoleta block at Gnirega.

The Valpolicella Classico is made from fresh grapes with a ten-day fermentation and ageing in stainless steel. Light to medium in body, with fine tannins and crisp acidity, it carries the appellation's essential character: red fruit forward, lively, and dry. The nose shows vivid cherry, wild raspberry, rose petal, blood orange and herbs. On the palate, currants and red fruit sit alongside soft tannins and a mineral current that runs through to a clean, persistent finish.

The Amarone is the opposite expression of the same vineyard. Appassimento concentrates the fruit before fermentation; eight years of ageing in large oak then layers tobacco, clove, dried fig and chocolate over the original cherry and plum base. The palate is full and dense, with velvety tannins, a long finish of sweet spice and espresso, and enough acidity from the hillside fruit to hold the wine's weight in balance. This is Amarone built for the long term: the Gnirega altitude and natural winemaking produce a wine that develops rather than softens prematurely.

In The Glass

The Valpolicella Classico opens with cherry and wild raspberry on the nose, with rose petal and a trace of blood orange. It is immediately fresh. In the mouth, red fruit comes first: currants and cherry with soft, approachable tannins and a lively acid line. The mineral quality of the calcareous hillside soil runs underneath and sharpens the finish. The wine is clean, not demanding, and finishes dry and persistent without heaviness.

The Amarone reads as the same fruit pushed through time and concentration. Black cherry and marasca plum on the nose, then layers of tobacco, clove and nutmeg. The dried-fruit character from appassimento adds depth without sweetness in the conventional sense: the wine is technically dry, but the concentrated fruit and long oak ageing produce richness. On the palate, blackberry, fig, chocolate and vanilla build over velvety tannins. The finish is long, with sweet spice fading into espresso. The acid line from the Classico-zone fruit is still present underneath, giving the Amarone its line and preventing the richness from becoming heavy.

A Bottle To Understand It

The Valpolicella Classico is the right first bottle. It is made from the same Gnirega hillside grapes, in the same natural way, without filtration or fining, but at the lighter, more direct end of the range. Cherry, raspberry, mineral acidity and fine tannins in a clean, dry red that shows what Corvina does when it is not concentrated by drying: lively, food-ready, honest about its place. The Amarone requires patience and demands attention; the Classico asks for neither. Start here to understand what the Gnirega hillside produces and what the estate does with it in its most uninterrupted form.

Anecdote

In 1969, Pietro Clementi was mayor of Marano di Valpolicella when he bought the Gnirega estate, a 17th-century hillside farm above the village. He had a career in Verona and civic duties in Marano, but the Gnirega property pulled him toward the hill. The estate had been worked as a farm for three hundred years before he signed for it. He put in the vines using the Pergola Veronese method his neighbours had trained on for generations and began making wine from Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara in the traditional way. His children, Bernardino, Maria and Maurizio, grew up on that hillside and inherited the whole operation: the vines, the cellar, the eight-year Amarone clock, the refusal to fine or filter. In 2017, the family joined FIVI, not because the association required anything they were not already doing, but because belonging to a federation of independent growers said something about the estate they had spent nearly fifty years building on the same unbroken 14-hectare block above Marano.

Final Word

Two wines from one hillside: a fresh Classico from Gnirega fruit fermented in stainless and released early, and an Amarone that spends eight years in the cellar before it leaves the property. The Pergola Veronese, the calcareous-clay soil, no synthetics, no fining, no filtering. A 17th-century hillside farm still farmed the way it always was, by the family that has run it for more than fifty years.

Sources

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