The Valpolicella you don't expect, Wine experience at Il Monte Caro

Il Monte Caro rises above Mezzane di Sotto, in the Mezzane valley on the eastern edge of Valpolicella, about a 25-minute drive from Verona. This one starts on foot. You walk up the Monte Caro itself, past the estate's native vines and the wild herbs that grow between the rows, with the whole valley opening out below you.

The walk is of medium difficulty. The distance is short — a little over half a kilometre , but you're on dirt tracks and through the vineyards, so wear sneakers. It takes roughly 30–40 minutes, and the view over the valley is the reward. Note that the route isn't suitable for strollers or prams.

Back at the winery, a member of the family guides you through a tasting of five organic wines, all reds of Valpolicella. The estate's style is its own: it aims for freshness, minerality and drinkability, and even on the more structured wines it looks for gentle, non-invasive ageing that keeps the fruit and the soils alive. The flight runs from the cool, bright Valpolicella DOC — a light-footed red from Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella — up through the estate's more structured Valpolicella reds, and closes on Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, made from grapes dried for months before pressing yet kept, here, unusually fresh for its weight.

You also taste the estate's extra virgin olive oil: a single, delicate multi-cultivar oil that comes from the highest part of the mountain. And the wines are served with a board of local mountain food — cheeses from the Lessinia highlands above Verona, both goat's and cow's milk from small producers, and Veronese cured meats, usually salame or soppressa.

If the weather allows, the tasting is held outdoors under the estate's porch; otherwise it moves into the indoor tasting room.