Why it matters
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 and vineyards
Where the wines begin
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.
In the cellar
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.
Wines to know
The range in view
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.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
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.