Roccolo Grassi

Roccolo Grassi is a small family estate at Mezzane di Sotto in the eastern hills of Valpolicella, run by Marco and Francesca Sartori. Their father Bruno bottled the first wine under the name in 1996; before that the fruit had been sold on.

Mezzane sits away from the Classico zone and is cooler, and the estate farms at altitude on limestone. The house style is unusually precise for a region often associated with weight: long, slow drying for the Amarone and Recioto, restrained oak, and an insistence on acidity. They also work Oseleta, a nearly extinct native variety rescued in the 1970s, which gives colour and firm tannin in small proportions.

Production is small and the wines are made to age. Roccolo Grassi is among the names most often cited when people argue that Valpolicella deserves to be taken as seriously as Piedmont or Tuscany.