This delicious wine is Brigaldara’s entry-level Valpolicella and is one of the top northern Italian red values you’ll find for everyday drinking and more — a $15 bargain that over-delivers year after year.
Valpolicella is in the Veneto region of northeast Italy. The appellation and its white wine- producing neighbor, Soave, are all but household Italian wine names in this country. Many examples now go well beyond Valpolicella’s reputation, forged decades ago by a few big producers, for churning out cheap, innocuous wines found on countless Italian-American restaurant menus.
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Brigaldara’s 2020 Valpolicella shows us the quality the region produces at reasonable prices and is a wine to have on hand for your weeknight pasta dishes, roast chicken, and even lighter fish recipes.
It’s a blend of Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella grapes and is aged for six months in stainless steel tanks with no exposure to oak, keeping the wine fresh and enjoyable in its youth.
The aromas offer a pleasing combination of red and dark berry fruit and earth. The tastes suggest overripe strawberries, sour cherries, and blueberry along with cinnamon and black pepper notes. Lively acidity, gentle tannins, and a stony mineral touch complete the equation.
Brigaldara, which has been owned by the Cesari family since 1928, farms 116 acres in the Valpolicella area and produces a range of wines, from basic Valpolicella to powerful Amarone della Valpolicella and even a Soave.
