Why it matters
The producer
Giuseppe Quintarelli ran 12 hectares in the hamlet of Cerè di Negrar from the early 1950s until his death in January 2012, and he never once adjusted his methods to suit fashion. Sixty years of making Amarone and Valpolicella by the same slow, patient approach gave the estate a reputation built entirely on what it does in the cellar, not on classification or prestige designation.
Silvio Quintarelli founded the domaine in 1924 after sharecropping in the area, and when his son Giuseppe took over, the estate gained its lasting character: long drying of the grapes, cold and deliberate fermentation, extended ageing in large Slavonian oak barrels. Those choices are still made today by Fiorenza Grigoli, her husband Giampaolo, and their sons Francesco and Lorenzo.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Cerè di Negrar sits on the eastern slopes of the Negrar Valley, one of the five valleys that make up the Valpolicella Classica zone west of Verona. The Classica designation matters because it refers to the historical production heartland of Valpolicella, where the vineyards climb higher and the calcareous soils hold less moisture than the expanded DOC zone on the plains below.
At 500 metres, the Quintarelli parcels sit near the upper limit of Valpolicella Classica viticulture. The elevation slows ripening through summer and pulls night temperatures down sharply in autumn, which prolongs the growing season and preserves natural acidity in the grapes. That acidity is what allows Amarone, a wine fermented from concentrated dried fruit at 15 percent alcohol or above, to finish without heaviness and to hold for three decades in bottle.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Corvina and Corvinone, the two primary grapes of Valpolicella, go to the drying chambers after harvest. The appassimento process runs for close to five months in controlled conditions, reducing each grape to roughly half its original weight as water evaporates and sugars concentrate. By the time fermentation begins, the must is dense, dark, and loaded with potential alcohol.
Fermentation runs dry and cold, lasting up to seven weeks. The low temperatures slow yeast activity, drawing out the process and preserving aromatic complexity that a warmer, faster fermentation would drive off. The resulting wine reaches 15 percent alcohol or above and carries the concentrated fruit character of the dried grapes alongside the freshness that the long, cold conversion of sugar to alcohol preserves.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range runs from Bianco Secco, a dry white, and Primofiore, a light red for early drinking, up through Valpolicella Classico and into the appassimento wines. Recioto della Valpolicella, the sweet red made from dried grapes and the historical ancestor of Amarone, also appears in the range. These earlier wines give access to the estate's fruit character without the weight and ageing requirement of the flagship.
Rosso del Bepi occupies a specific position in the range. It is made from the same Corvina and Corvinone grapes as Amarone, in vintages when the family judges the harvest unsuitable for the longer commitment of Amarone production. The wine carries Giuseppe's nickname as its name and functions as the estate's honest accounting of what a given year produced.