Veneto
Est. 1983 
5 wines 
Tastings
Tours
Booking required 
Wine area
Valpolicella
Corvina country, four wines from the same hill.
Dal Forno Romano
Dal Forno Romano is a family wine estate in Val d'Illasi, the eastern arm of the Valpolicella DOC north of Verona. Romano Dal Forno founded the winery in 1983, after a spell learning in the circle of Giuseppe Quintarelli. His son Marco leads it today. Three wines define the cellar, all from the same blocks of vines: Valpolicella Superiore Monte Lodoletta, Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Monte Lodoletta, and the rare Vigna Seré passito.
See the wines
Wines from Dal Forno Romano
About Dal Forno Romano
The Dal Forno family had farmed vines in Val d'Illasi for generations before Romano bottled his first vintage in 1983. The turning point came at 22, when he met Giuseppe Quintarelli in nearby Negrar. That meeting reset his idea of what a Valpolicella estate could be. Through the 1980s Romano worked with modest equipment at home. In the 1990s he built the cellar that now stands at Loc. Lodoletta, designed around appassimento, vacuum-sealed tanks and long barrel ageing.
The estate farms 34 hectares of vines at 280 to 350 metres, about 48 football pitches, and owns just over half of that outright. The soil was laid down by rivers: roughly 70 percent gravel, 15 percent silt and 15 percent clay. Vines are packed in at almost 13,000 per hectare, far above the Valpolicella norm, and each vine carries a small crop so the fruit concentrates. Eight named plots, including Vigna Lodoletta, Vigna Seré, Vigna Castagnini and Vigna Mezzomonte, are farmed as a closed system. Soil make-up, insect numbers and wider biodiversity are checked as part of routine work.
The grapes dry in a purpose-built drying loft. Banks of fans slide along tracks, the air direction flips every five minutes, and computer-controlled windows manage the humidity. Grapes for the Valpolicella Superiore dry for about six weeks, Amarone grapes for three months, and Vigna Seré for up to four. The wine then ferments in stainless steel at a controlled 28C. For fifteen days the skins stay in, pushed back down into the wine as it works. The tanks and the press run under vacuum, and the wine is even bottled under vacuum, to limit oxidation.
Ageing runs 24 to 48 months in new oak barrels, depending on the year. The mix is currently 70 percent French and 30 percent American oak for the Valpolicella Superiore, and half and half for the Amarone. The same blend runs through every wine: roughly 60 percent Corvina, 10 Corvinone, 5 Rondinella, 15 Croatina and 10 Oseleta. What changes is the age of the vines and how long the grapes dry. Production across the three labels is around 5,000 cases a year, roughly 60,000 bottles.
Vigna Seré appears only in exceptional years. The bottlings to date are 1988, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2003 and 2004. Since the 2003 vintage it has been labelled Veneto IGT Passito rather than Recioto della Valpolicella DOC, a deliberate step outside the DOC rules. Forty years on, collectors treat the estate as a reference point for modern, concentrated Valpolicella, often grouping it with Quintarelli, Gaja and Biondi-Santi. The cellar is still strictly family-run: Romano is on hand, and Marco leads the day-to-day work.
Plate I · VENETO
Dal Forno Romano on the Veneto wine atlas
Winery
Dal Forno Romano
Illasi, VR · Valpolicella
Denominations Produced
Grapes Used
Visit & Experiences
Experiences at Dal Forno Romano
Nothing here can be booked online yet. The experiences below are documented by our editors. The estate's contact details are in Practical info.
Cellar Tour
Cellar visit by appointment
Dal Forno Romano does not run a walk-in tasting programme. Visits are arranged by direct request to the winery, typically focused on the cellar, the appassimento fruttaio and the estate's three wines. Contact the winery by email at [email protected] or phone on +39 045 7834923 to enquire about availability.
Ask the estate
Not bookable online yet
Not seeing the estate you want? Estates without an online listing are reachable directly, and their phone and email are in Plan your visit.
Plan your visit
What Dal Forno Romano makes
Dal Forno Romano's current bottle selection is led by Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG. The clearest grape signal comes from Corvina and Rondinella.
Common questions
-
Three wines: Valpolicella Superiore DOC Monte Lodoletta, Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Monte Lodoletta, and Vigna Seré, a Veneto IGT passito made only in exceptional years such as 1988, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2003 and 2004. All three share the same blend of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Croatina and Oseleta. Output across the three is roughly 5,000 cases a year.
Get in touch
Have a question or need help with a booking?
Tell us what you need and we'll help you reach Dal Forno Romano and arrange a visit or tour. We reply within two working days.
More from Veneto
