Ca la Bionda. Corvina

Veronese IGT
Grape: Corvina

Fine deeply flavoured wine with sapid damson and strawberry fruit, earthy truffle and Turkish delight, remarkably floral on the finish. A breath-taking deep, rich wine.
1200 bottles made. 15%

link to Ca' la Bionda producer page

The history of this wine is relatively short, unfortunately, long enough for me to be a little hazy on the dates – suffice to say I remember a single barrel of unnamed wine that ‘may, or may not be a thing’. Pressed, Alessandro admitted that it was a flight of fancy (my words), the grapes are pure Corvina from the highest and oldest part of the vineyard within the Ravazzol Cru (200 to 300m), which is planted the old way with the grape varieties mixed together, it is also responsible for Ca’ la Bionda’s most iconic Amarone, the ‘Ravazzol’. I was curious to know just how good the pickers were, not only able to identify Corvina, but also able to balance the requirements of two, very different wines from one vineyard. The answer was simple, “my brother, father and I pick all the grapes” and this took them almost a month. It is hardly a surprise that Alessandro, Pietro and Nicola only put themselves through this when the vintage is exceptional.
The recipe for the Corvina has changed very little since the first vintage in 2000: the harvest starts at the end of September and finishes at the end of October. The grapes are laid onto wooden drying trays as they come in, until there is sufficient quantity to fill a 1000 litre, open oak cask. This means the bunches are dried for anywhere between 4 and 0 weeks. The bunches are then crushed and go through a wild yeast fermentation without temperature control (or any outside influence). The wine is then racked off into a 10 hectolitre (1000 litre) cask, where it remains for 3 years.
Vintages made: 2000, 2005, 2008, 2013