Why it matters
The producer
Massimo Gianolli farms Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella at heights that change what Valpolicella can be. His estate, La Collina dei Ciliegi, sits in Erbin, a village of Cimbrian origin on the rolling hills of Valpantena, a valley running north from Verona toward the Lessini plateau. The vineyards are the highest in the entire Valpantena, between 550 and 700 metres, and at those elevations ripening runs up to a month later than on the valley floor below.
Gianolli's father Armando had his own earlier connection to Erbin, and the estate grows from that personal attachment to the land. The signature wine, Peratara, is a single-vineyard Valpolicella Superiore drawn from a named 4.5-hectare parcel. Maciòn, a ripasso, completes the principal range. Both wines work with the same three native grapes, and both reflect the altitude that defines the estate's character.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Valpantena is one of several lateral valleys feeding into the main Adige valley west of Verona. It is distinct from the classic Valpolicella DOC zone, which lies further west, and its wines carry their own appellation designation. The valley floor is warm and productive; the slopes above Erbin are a different environment entirely.
At 550 to 700 metres, the Alta project vineyards sit well above the altitude at which most Valpolicella is grown. The extended ripening season that results concentrates aromatic compounds differently from lower-elevation fruit: less heat-driven softness, more time for phenolic development under cooler autumn temperatures. On the Monte Castello parcel, which runs north to south across 6.1 hectares at 580 to 700 metres, Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella ripen in conditions closer to a mountain vineyard than to the valley Amarone estates twenty minutes away. That altitude gap is the core argument behind every bottle Gianolli releases.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The Alta vineyards are planted at 7,692 vines per hectare, a high density for the region. Dense planting forces each vine to draw from a smaller surface area, encouraging deeper rooting and reducing individual vine vigour. At altitude, that lower vigour translates into smaller berries with a higher skin-to-juice ratio, which intensifies colour, tannin and aromatic concentration.
Peratara macerates for ten days, a moderate extraction period for Corvina-based wines. After fermentation, the wine ages for two years in a combination of large barrels, tonneaux, barriques and amphorae, then rests in bottle for a further twelve months before release. The mix of vessel sizes and materials produces a layered élevage: large barrels contribute slow, gentle oxygen exchange; barriques add more direct wood contact; amphorae maintain freshness with no oak influence. The result across this three-year maturation is a wine that arrives with integrated spice and tannin rather than raw wood or primary fruit.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range at La Collina dei Ciliegi organises around two main expressions of the Valpantena's three native grapes.
Peratara, the estate's primary statement, is a Valpolicella Superiore from a single vineyard of approximately 4.5 hectares. Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella macerate together for ten days, giving the wine its colour and a tannin frame that independent reviewers have described as present but ripe. After two years in large barrels, tonneaux, barriques and amphorae, and a year in bottle, it shows dark spice, smooth texture and enough grip to develop further in the cellar. Cronache di Gusto, covering the 2019 debut, noted the drinkable texture despite the wine's youth. DoctorWine pointed to spice integration, smooth tannins and ageing potential as the marks of the élevage.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Peratara is the right first bottle. It is the only wine in the range sourced entirely from a single named parcel at high altitude, and it shows most clearly what the estate's terrain argument amounts to in the glass.