Valpolicella Wine Tasting with Amarone at Mizzon in San Pietro in Cariano

The Mizzon family has made wine at San Pietro in Cariano, in the Valpolicella Classica zone, since 1919. Your host is Nicola, the fourth generation to run the estate, and he oversees every stage of the winemaking himself.

You start outside, among the estate's six hectares of vineyards, where Nicola shows you how two very different soils, calcareous marl and basalt, pull the wines in different directions. From there the visit moves into the original 1917 farmhouse: the historic cellar, the appassimento loft where the Amarone and Recioto grapes dry on bamboo racks through the winter, and the barrel room where the reds slowly mature.

The tasting itself is seated and guided, in the estate's tasting room. It runs through five wines in the order Valpolicella built them up: from a fresh white to a sweet red that came before Amarone ever existed.

You will taste:
- Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC: A dry, easy white to open on. Pale straw, with pear and white-flower notes and a clean, unoaked finish; a fresh start before the reds arrive.

- Valpolicella DOC: The everyday face of the valley, a light, bright red from Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella.

- Valpolicella Ripasso DOC Superiore: Often called "baby Amarone." This is a Valpolicella re-fermented on the skins left over from the Amarone pressing, which hand it more colour, more body and a warm depth.

- the estate's flagship Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG.  It's made from the dried grapes you saw upstairs in the loft, fermented all the way to dry: a rich, high-alcohol red of concentrated dried cherry and spice, full-bodied and long. Its power comes from the drying, not from any fortification.

- Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG, The historic wine of the valley, and the ancestor of Amarone. Same dried grapes, but the fermentation is stopped early to keep the natural sweetnes.