Le Ragose, Valpolicella Classico 2022

Bright, fresh, juicy and completely addictive, this is a shining example of the modern-day wine drinker's low-intervention red wine. Packed full of cherry and redcurrant flavours, this is vibrant and buzzing with energy. A simply delicious glass of wine form one of Italy's most successful and loved of regions.

The Very Modern Crowd are piling into wine bars looking for Natural Wines that are stylistically so similar to this wine, yet are often far more expensive. But here, in the traditional, slightly old-fashioned north of Italy, you can get all of those thrills (without the Russian Roulette of un-sulphured wines) in a traditionally made wine. Perfect year round but utterly divine in the summer months with light snacks or even just a hunk of bread and some olive oil.

It's a brilliant example of the way that lighter European wine styles can be: never too heavy, yet full of vitality, texture and engagement.

Hard to think that Valpolicella was thought of as a wine style and region that was fit for the bottom shelves of supermarkets and wine shops, but until the late 1960s, that was the place in which the region found itself. The vision and energy of Marta Galli and her husband Arnaldo, drove them to high altitude, old vines and the winery of Le Ragose. Believing that they could extract quality from their native vines, with prerequisites of vine age and altitude, they forced a new vision of Valpolicella on the wine world: one of elegance, complexity, quality and vitality.

The abandoned 70-acre Le Ragose estate is 350m above sea level and this creates practical problems for vine growing (it's why the estate was up for sale in the first place) especially regarding the harvesting of grapes on very steep slopes. However, it is also the key to their quality - steep slopes drain well and, as they face south, there is excellent exposure to the sun for ripening. Add to this the level of altitude which sits them above the fog that causes a serious lack of quality in vines from the valley floor and you have a vineyard area that would be the envy of anyone.

The Gallis began farming in as sympathetic a manner and as naturally as possible. Le Ragose is located in the town of Negrar, the heartland of Valpolicella, to the north of Verona. It is the highest point in the Valpolicella region. The other wineries in the village are also of the highest calibre as they too have established that the climatic benefits and geographical situation are particularly well suited for appassimento, the process of drying grapes which is fundamental to Amarone production. Yes, Amarone really is the pinnacle of the scale here, but if you can't make a good Valpolicella, you're almost certainly not going to make a decent Amarone.

“The quality of a wine cannot be distinguished from the place of origin of the grapes and from the people who produce it” - says Paolo Galli; it's a sentence that really does encapsulate the underlying philosophy and overwhelming passion of the people and the wines made at Le Ragose.