The territory

A brief tour in the territory of Val d’Illasi while talking about Amarone.

Val d’Illasi – in ancient times called Valsecca  because of the scarcity of rainfall, is in the province of Verona and the Veneto region  except for the northern part which reaches the Carega Dolomites in Trentino Alto Adige.  The landscape is varied:  plains, mountains, low and medium hills, crossed by the Progno  with a dry or almost dry bed that runs through seven municipalities.

Over the centuries the valley has had many different names:  Val di Tregnago, Valle del Progno, Val Longazeria or Logazeria .  It was called Valle d’Illasi  for the first time in the mid 18th century in a “Map of the Veronese territory”  compiled by Don Gregorio Piccoli.

The climate, which Carlo (a concrete, resolute and impatient man) relies on, has always been temperate.  Rainfall comes in the Fall and Spring and it is during these seasons that the Progno  fills with water, just as it has done for centuries, causing hardships to nearby residents.  It is thanks to this climate, as valuable as the environmental and landscape qualities of the site, that one of the best Amarone wines is made, Ferragù Estate Winery Amarone with a garnet red color (or, as some critics would write, an impenetrable purple ):  a significant product of Val d’Illasi.  Ferragù Estate Winery Amarone should be tasted with composure, extremely slowly, sip after sip.
 

Ferragù Estate Winery lands, numbers of bottles, winery and raisin-drying process:

The Ferragù Estate comprises eight hectares of vineyards and approximately one hectare of olive farmland.  These lands immerse us in the soft silence near Sorcé di Sopra, two hundred and forty meters above sea level.

The Ferragù Winery is divided into two departments:  the upper part, newer and modern, has all the equipment required for transforming the grapes from must to wine.  The cellars, with thick and low vaulted walls and glossy doors made of ancient wood, stores and protects the barrels in a suggestive place, especially when illuminated and covered with a golden veil, where silence reigns and is as sacred as the temperature that impregnates every stone.

Above the cellars the grapes are first crushed and destemmed.  Then the must is transferred into the fermenting vat.  “Cold” maceration takes place for thirty five hours and then fermentation begins, at controlled temperatures, lasting for about thirty days.  This permits extraction of colors, tannins and aromatic compounds of the skins.

All fermenting vats and tanks are made of steel.  The temperature of the slowly fermenting grapes is constantly monitored.  Refinement takes place in oak barrels having the same capacities, barriques  holding 225 liters each (these are the only barrels which, in terms of capacity, can call themselves barriques)  to enhance aroma and flavor.

There are two raisin-drying halls, located inside the cellars in order to best exploit the silent air that is perfect for drying the grapes.

Every year the Ferragù Estate Winery produces about three thousand bottles of Amarone and fifteen-sixteen thousand bottles of Valpolicella Superiore for a total of twenty thousand bottles.  Recioto is only produced during the best vintage years and only in a small quantity, a thousand bottles.

Data collected in the laboratory shows us the best time to harvest, especially as concerns the raisin-drying phase.  Fermentation and “aging” processes are also monitored from inside this small bottega.

Raisin-drying is a key moment and considered, not by chance, in this area, to be a second harvest.   Grapes must be healthy and perfectly ripe both inside and outside.  The best bunches are already selected during the  harvest, in the first three weeks of October.  Bunches called “spargoli ” are selected because their grapes are not too close to each other, permitting air to circulate.  Bunches are placed on large lugs, no longer made of wood but made of plastic and perforated in order to control the amount of ventilation and also to permit quick and effective washing after use.

A quality product is guaranteed by strict control of vine-shoots and buds, the limited output, the raisin-drying and fermentation techniques that obey solid natural principles and the aging in barriques.  The wine is a superb expression of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Molinara grapes  which, once they are ripe but before they are harvested, ritually hail the Castel.  The Castel is on the top of a gentle hill.  History says it was sold to Alberto I Della Scala.  Today, unfortunately, it is only visible externally.  However to taste a bit of this ancient past all you have to do is to uncork a bottle of Amarone, spin the Ferragù-branded cork next to a balloon, take the stem between your fingers, slowly swirl the ruby liquid in the glass and then let yourself go to the refinement of a rich and new, old and historic flavor.