Giuseppe Quintarelli's Valpolicella Classico Superiore is a baby Amarone from Negrar: a Corvina-led blend, part-dried before fermentation and aged years in large Slavonian oak. Dark cherry, dried fig and sweet spice over fine tannins, a full 15%.
Half the Corvina-led blend is dried before fermentation, then the wine spends years in large Slavonian oak at Cerè di Negrar. Expect dried fig, tobacco and sweet spice over bitter cherry and fine, dusty tannins.
The bouquet opens on dried herbs and desiccated red berry, with raspberry and dark cherry lifted by sweet baking spice: cinnamon, clove and a thread of star anise. Months of grape-drying before fermentation push the fruit toward fig and raisin without tipping into Amarone weight. Years in large Slavonian oak add tobacco, cedar and a faint cocoa edge.
Orange peel
Black cherry
Blackberry
Fig
Plum
Raspberry
Tobacco
Cinnamon
ChocolateOn the palate it is dark and red-berried, with bitter cherry, plum and a twist of orange zest. The texture is the signature: two to three grams of residual sugar and a glyceric softness from the dried grapes wrap fine, dusty tannins, while Valpolicella's natural acidity keeps it nervy and precise rather than sweet. At a full 15% the body is generous, yet the energy and drive stop it feeling heavy.
The finish is long and savoury, dried herbs and garrigue trailing over cocoa and a gently bitter, cherry-stone snap. It leaves the mouth fresh, not sweet, in the way the best traditional Valpolicella does.
This is the wine that carried Quintarelli's name beyond Amarone: a hand-built, cult Valpolicella from Negrar that drinkers rate 4.5 on Vivino and critics score in the low-to-mid 90s. Buy it for slow food and patient cellaring rather than a midweek glass, and give it an hour in the decanter.
Three UK merchants list the current 2017 and 2018 at roughly £99 to £113 a bottle, a price set by tiny production and years of cellar-ageing before release. Stock is thin and vintages sell through.
A versatile, age-worthy and special-occasion red rather than an everyday or budget buy: the scores below weigh it on six axes against typical Valpolicella.
A cult Negrar producer, hand-built in tiny quantities at three-figure prices, makes it a genuine special-occasion and gifting wine.
Fine tannin, bright acidity and savoury dried-grape depth make it a flexible match for braised meats, mushroom risotto and aged cheese.
Partial appassimento, 15% alcohol, firm fine tannins and years of oak give real ageing capacity, with drinking windows running to 2033 and 2034.
Plush and delicious, but the atypical international-grape blend, baby-Amarone style and three-figure price make it a connoisseur's bottle rather than a first Valpolicella.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our editorial methodology.
A compact view of what the Valpolicella denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
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2017 was a hot, concentrated drought year; 2018 a cooler, more classic season that gave a fresher, finer-boned wine. Both carry 15% alcohol and a decade-long drinking window.
2018 was a cooler, wetter and more classic Valpolicella season after the 2017 heat, giving a fresher, more nervy wine with finer tannins and brighter aromatics. Built for the cellar, it should drink well from 2027 to 2034.
A hot, drought-marked 2017 gave a small, concentrated crop, and the long cask ageing has folded that ripeness into a deep, structured wine. Open now with air, it has the balance to hold through 2033.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
From a roughly 12-hectare estate on the Ca' Paletta hill above Negrar, the Quintarelli family bottles by hand and ages in old Slavonian botti, the template traditionalist Valpolicella is measured against.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Valpolicella is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Valpolicella falls within Veneto , covering Veneto. The denomination is further divided into 2 sub-zones.
Quintarelli holds this wine for years in large Slavonian oak botti before sale, tying up capital and cellar space that a one-year Valpolicella never carries.
Drying half the crop on mats for two months loses volume to evaporation and demands hand-sorting, so each bottle needs far more fruit than a standard Valpolicella.
Fruit comes only from the family's roughly 12 hectares above Negrar, picked by hand; scarcity, not marketing, sets the circa £100 UK shelf price.
Quintarelli's name draws collectors worldwide while output stays small, pushing retail well above the Valpolicella DOC average of roughly £15 to £20.
Labelled Valpolicella Superiore rather than Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, it sits below the priciest tier of the appellation and under Quintarelli's own Amarone.
UK still-wine duty of £2.67 a bottle plus 20% VAT account for about £22 of the circa £113 retail price before the merchant's margin.
Dishes that complement this wine
The dried-grape weight and savoury, dried-herb character suit slow-braised beef, porcini risotto, lamb ragù and aged cheese. Bright Valpolicella acidity keeps these rich plates fresh.
Years in Slavonian oak leave fine, dusty tannins that bind to the collagen and fat of long braises. The 15% body and faint dried-grape sweetness echo the richness of brasato and ossobuco, while the wine's acidity keeps each forkful fresh.
Try with: Brasato al Barolo · Ossobuco alla Milanese · Fiorentina steak · More pairings →
Dried fig, tobacco and cocoa from the cask ageing bridge the earthy, umami depth of porcini and truffle. The soft, glyceric texture mirrors the creaminess of the rice, so the pairing reads as one savoury whole.
Try with: Porcini mushroom risotto · Truffle risotto · Tagliatelle al tartufo di Acqualagna · More pairings →
Beneath the dried-grape weight, Valpolicella keeps a natural seam of acidity that cuts the fat of lamb ragù and chargrilled beef. Ripe tannin scrubs the palate between bites without drying it out.
Try with: Agnello Ragu Lucano · Fiorentina steak · Brasato al Barolo · More pairings →
The two to three grams of residual sugar and round texture offset the salt and crystalline crunch of long-aged cheese. Sweet spice and dark fruit flatter Pecorino and even a sweet streak of Gorgonzola.
Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Gorgonzola, pear, and walnut risotto · More pairings →
A full-bodied, savoury wine with dried-herb and garrigue notes stands up to rich polenta and bitter-edged autumn cooking. The structure matches the weight of the dish rather than being buried by it.
Try with: Polenta alla Valdostana · Porcini mushroom risotto · Radicchio risotto · More pairings →
A full 15% alcohol, oak and dried-grape sweetness overwhelm raw fish and delicate shellfish, and they amplify chilli heat. The fine tannins clash with briny, fragile textures.
Skip with: Sushi · Oysters · Vindaloo · Sweet and sour pork · Pairing guide →
With 15% alcohol, fine tannins and years of oak behind it, this keeps and evolves: the 2017 has the balance to hold to about 2033, the 2018 to 2034. Store it cool and decant an hour before serving.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
Partial appassimento, 15% alcohol, firm fine tannins and years of oak give real ageing capacity, with drinking windows running to 2033 and 2034.
£99.23 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 7 Jun 2026, 14:49 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumIt is the Quintarelli family's traditional Valpolicella from Cerè di Negrar, often called a baby Amarone. Around half the Corvina-led blend is dried before fermentation, and the wine then rests for years in large Slavonian oak, giving far more depth than a standard Valpolicella.
A Corvina and Corvinone base with Rondinella, rounded out by a small share of international and other Italian varieties, chiefly Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, Croatina and Sangiovese. The exact mix shifts slightly by vintage.
Both use dried grapes, but here only part of the fruit is dried, so the wine is lighter and fresher than Amarone at about 15% alcohol. It drinks as a savoury, food-friendly red while keeping the Quintarelli signature of long oak ageing.
Slow-braised beef and veal such as brasato and ossobuco, porcini or truffle risotto, lamb ragù and aged hard cheese. Its acidity and fine tannins suit rich, savoury, autumnal cooking.
It is delicious on release with an hour in the decanter, but it has the structure to age. The 2017 should drink well to around 2033 and the 2018 to 2034.
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