Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico 2016

Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico 2016

Secondo Marco is a small winery in Fumane, in the heart of the Valpolicella Classica zone, founded in 2008 by Marco Speri, a fifth-generation member of one of the area’s established winemaking families. The 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is a blend of Corvinone 45%, Corvina 40%, and Rondinella 15%, grown on traditional pergola-trained vines and harvested by hand. Only the best bunches are selected and left to dry for approximately 120 days before pressing, a process that concentrates sugars, flavors, and structure. Fermentation lasts around 45 days with extended skin maceration, followed by 42 months of aging in large 50-hectoliter oak barrels and a further 12 months of bottle rest before release. The 2015 vintage in Valpolicella was warm and dry, producing grapes with excellent ripeness and concentration, contributing to the wine’s depth and full body at 16% alcohol. The wine scored 93 points from Falstaff.

Secondo Marco is the Fumane estate of Marco Speri, who founded it in 2008 after leaving his family’s historic Valpolicella house to work in his own name. He farms 17 hectares in the Classica zone and bottles around 85,000 bottles a year, training the vines on a pergola he redesigned into a Y shape to give the bunches air and even light. The cellar follows the same independent streak: spontaneous fermentations, long aging in large casks and wines released only when ready, from Valpolicella Classico through Ripasso to Amarone and the rare Riserva Fumetto.