2000 Tommaso Bussola Amarone della Valpolicella Vigneto Alto 3 Liter

This wine is a blend of Corvinone, Corvina Grossa and Rondinella.  It is sourced from the Vigneto Alto vineyard which was planted in 1970 at an elevation of 260 meters and has a southeast orientation with Toar (basalt) & chalky gravel soils.

Work in the vineyard is measured by the months and the seasons. In order to avoid excessive impoverishment of the lands, the various soils are periodically analysed and a programme of interventions with organic fertilizers is drawn up.

Left to dry from mid-September 2000 till mid-January 2001, they achieved a advanced degree of “appassimento” (drying), arriving at a degree “Babo” of 27/28 (almost 300 g/l of residual sugar). Fermentation lasted 55 days with frequent pumpings over.

The wine was then racked and transferred to stainless steel vats for 10 days, after which – still with a residual sugar of 40 g/l – it was racked again and put into new 12-25 hectolitre barrels of Slavonian and French oak. Here the wine remained for 30 months, on its own fine deposit, while very slowly it completed its alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentation. It was racked again and “assembled”, then bottled. Normally it is aged for four months in bottle before release onto the market.

There is only 5,000 bottles produced in any vintage and Tommaso Bussola began working at his uncle Giuseppe's estate in 1977. His uncle Giuseppe still works the vineyards.