Giuseppe Quintarelli

Vintage: 1996
Producer: Giuseppe Quintarelli
Region: Valpolicella Classico Superiore
Vineyard : Monte Ca’ Paletta

On My Palate:

A savory, tomato nose. Fucking singing. Touch of raisin (classic Valpol), without being oxidized. Chalky minerality on the tongue. Veggie and savory. The quintessential food wine?! Still zinging. Wow! Wide open. Wanna dip my head in it.

The Dregs:

Wow. Indigenous grapes matched with traditionalist winemaking and a scrupulous winemaker can create a unique, standout wine. Giuseppe Quintarelli, labeled “the Master of the Veneto,” is the artisanal winemaker with unique, stunning, faultless wines that back up his reputation. He ages his wines in large, Slavonian oak casts for up to seven years or more. This traditionalist recipe can often spell tired, fruitless, oxidized wines for the wine drinker (think Rioja Gran Reserva at its worst), but, based on this example, not so.

Wine can be more complex that rich black and/or red fruit, and some acclaimed winemakers fetching premium prices are still making wine fit to be paired with food other that chocolate chip pancakes topped with blackberry syrup. Drinking this wine makes my mouth water and lust after any Venetian dish containing tomato.

Where:

In the empty lounge at Addison del Mar. The Sabonet silver clinks against the Bernardaud porcelin and echoes under the vaulted ceiling.

Exceptional