Why it matters
The producer
Società Agricola Spada is a small family estate in San Pietro in Cariano, one of the original hill communes of the Valpolicella Classica zone west of Verona. The family has made wine here since 1910, beginning with great-grandfather Giuseppe and passing through Attilio, then Renzo, then Dino across four generations. Ten hectares of vineyards supply the whole range.
The estate is defined not by scale but by method. Spada dries harvested grapes before fermentation. At Spada, that drying happens in a purpose-built cellar room where temperature, humidity, and ventilation are monitored throughout. The duration varies from 15 days to six months depending on the grape, the technique, and the wine being made. Ripasso, the mid-range wine refermented over dried Amarone pomace, requires the shortest drying period. Amarone requires the longest. The same room, the same grapes, and a different calendar produce three entirely different bottles.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Valpolicella Classica is the original, legally bounded zone within the broader Valpolicella denomination, covering the valleys and hillsides north-west of Verona. The Classica designation distinguishes the five historic communes, including San Pietro in Cariano, from the extended Valpolicella area that was added later. Wines made here carry that Classica distinction on the label.
The zone is built around four grape varieties: Corvina Veronese, Corvinone, Rondinella, and Molinara. None is particularly useful as a fresh single-varietal wine. Their value emerges from appassimento. Drying concentrates sugar, deepens colour, thickens tannin, and shifts the aroma from fresh cherry toward dried fruit, chocolate, and tobacco. The resulting wines are dense and warm, with alcohol levels that reflect months of moisture loss before fermentation even begins.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Spada uses the four classic Valpolicella varieties across its range, harvesting by hand and moving the fruit directly into the drying room. The controlled environment, with monitored temperature, humidity, and ventilation, prevents uneven dehydration and reduces mould risk across the six months the longest drying cycle requires. Even dehydration matters: uneven drying produces irregular sugar concentration, which translates into inconsistent fermentation and variable alcohol in the finished wine.
After drying and fermentation, all wines go into French oak. The Ripasso spends two years in 10-hectolitre barrels, a format large enough to limit aggressive oak extraction while still allowing slow oxidative development. The producer says it matures its wines in high quality oak barriques.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range is organised around one method applied at three different intensities. All three wines begin with the same grapes and the same drying room; the variables are duration, fermentation route, and finishing sweetness.
The Ripasso Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC is the entry point. It blends 40% Corvinone, 40% Rondinella, 15% Corvina Veronese, and 5% Molinara, dried for the shorter end of the appassimento range and then refermented over the pomace left from Amarone pressing. That second fermentation adds body, colour, and dried-fruit complexity without the full weight of Amarone. Two years in 10-hectolitre French oak rounds the tannin and adds vanilla and light spice to a core of dark cherry and plum.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Ripasso Valpolicella Classico Superiore. It is the wine where the estate's core method, appassimento at medium intensity followed by two years in 10-hectolitre French oak, is most legible in the glass. The blend of 40% Corvinone, 40% Rondinella, and 15% Corvina Veronese gives dark fruit, firm but rounded tannin, and enough body to hold the dried-grape concentration without tipping into the full weight of Amarone. Plum, black cherry, and violet on the nose; warmth and dark fruit through the palate; vanilla and tobacco on the finish.