Grapes: 

This dessert wine, hailing from Recioto Della Valpolicella within Veneto, comes more specifically from a 4 ha sub-region within Roccolo Grassi possessing 40-year-old vines. The soils in this vineyard are mainly volcanic. The wine is made passito method, meaning the grapes are left out to dry and raisinate before pressing. Roccolo Grassi utilizes natural ventilation for the drying and only using fans when totally necessary. The dried grapes are then crushed in February, with final fermentation finished in oak barrels. The wines are left to age in large French oak barrels, 50% new. 

On the palate, the wine has extremely ripe fruits such as cherries, raspberries, and plums with dark chocolate, fine tobacco, and baking spices. The wine is intensely sweet, but pleasantly so with its possession of lingering minerality. 

Vinous: 94 Points