Corte Bravi Wines

Natural wine has come to Valpolicella as it has to so much of Europe, and no-one is more committed to the ethos than Corte Bravi. The tenets of natural wine – that the grapes ferment spontaneously with their wild yeasts, that no chemical additives are included, that the wines go without filtration and use little (or preferably, zero) sulphites at bottling – are summed up beautifully and succinctly by the winery’s fierce motto: ‘Grapes And Nothing Else.’

Situated in Gargagnago (bordering the estate owned by the descendants of the poet Dante), in land purchased by their father in 1990, brothers Andrea and Ivan Brunelli have set about establishing a haven for minimum-intervention winemaking in this, the heart of Valpolicella Classica. Having grown up tending and cultivating the land, they set up their own winery in 2011, making it one of the youngest in the Classica area (certainly considering their reputation). Their principles are clear – that the grapes are what make the wine, and the land is what makes the grapes, and the winemaker’s job is to interfere with both as little as possible, to allow what is there in nature to shine through.