Alpha Zeta A Amarone della Valpolicella 2020

The vineyards are situated at 100-400 metres above sea level in the hills outside Verona, in the Valpantena Valley, on south/south-east facing slopes. Cool breezes blow down the valley from the foothills of the Dolomites, which moderate the climate, enabling the grapes to ripen and helping them to retain their aromatic compounds and acidity. The soil is poor and chalky so the vines are put under stress and produce superior quality fruit. The vines are 20-30 years old on average and are trained using both the traditional Pergola Veronese and Guyot systems. Selected grapes were hand harvested in mid-September and left to dry in specially ventilated rooms until the end of January. During this time the grapes lost about 40% of their natural weight. The grapes were destemmed and crushed at the end of January. Fermentation temperature was between 15-20°C with daily periodic pumping over, while the length of maceration was 10-12 days. This Amarone was matured in oak (a mixture of large 'botti' and French oak barriques) for 24 months and transferred into concrete tanks for final filtration before bottling.