Brigaldara, Recioto della Valpolicella, 2021 - Half-bottle
Brigaldara, Recioto della Valpolicella, 2021 - Half-bottle
- 37.5cl
- 15%
- Dessert
- Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella
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Optimal drinking window: 2026 - 2035
Est. delivery mid-November, 2026
Brigaldara is one of Valpolicella's most consistent names, a family estate that has farmed the hills above San Floriano for generations without ever chasing fashion. This Recioto, the sweet forebear from which Amarone was eventually born, is made from the same Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella grapes left to shrivel slowly on straw mats through the winter months, concentrating sugars, flavour and that distinctive raisined intensity before a long, patient fermentation that stops short of dryness.
In the half-bottle it's a thoughtful, generous pour: thick, dark and sweet, with dried cherry, fig, clove and a bitter espresso-like twist that stops it ever feeling cloying.
What the critics say:
"The 2021 Recioto della Valpolicella entices with a lovely whiff of blood orange and confectionary rose, giving way to fresh mint and dried strawberries. More savory than expected, it displays round textures and depths of red berry fruits offset by a saline mineral inflection. It finishes with staining length and a pleasantly bitter tinge as nuances of citrus siowly fade. You can't call this a dessert wine; it's a savory beast."
"Notes of ripe blackberries, black pepper, fresh figs and oak bark. Dense and velvety, with zesty acidity and sweet, balanced flavors. Olives, chocolate and toasty coffee in the finish. Drink now."
The vineyards sit on the volcanic and calcareous clay slopes above San Floriano dell'Alpa, in the Valpolicella Classico heartland, where cooling breezes off nearby Lake Garda temper the Veneto's summer heat. Altitude and well-drained soils help keep the Corvina grapes healthy through the autumn, crucial for the months of air-drying that follow, and give the wine its characteristic mineral spine beneath all that richness.
Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG is the oldest wine of the Valpolicella family, predating Amarone, made by drying grapes on racks or mats for three to four months before a fermentation that is deliberately arrested to leave natural sweetness behind. It shares its grape blend and zone with Amarone and Valpolicella Classico but stands apart as the sweet, dessert-focused expression, historically the wine of celebration in the region long before Amarone's dry style took over the world's attention.
The 2021 growing season in Veneto delivered exactly what nervous growers needed after a string of challenging years: textbook conditions that let the vines do their thing without drama. Spring arrived gently, summer stayed warm but not punishing, and crucially, September held dry and sunny through harvest. We find ourselves talking about a vintage where nature simply behaved, allowing winemakers to focus on craft rather than crisis management.
What emerged from those orderly conditions are wines with a lovely sense of balance—Amarone and Valpolicella showing both power and freshness, while Soave displays that mineral backbone we crave without the sometimes aggressive acidity of trickier years. The reds carry good concentration without feeling heavy, and there's an approachability to them that makes this vintage particularly rewarding. Most 2021 Veneto wines are drinking beautifully now, though the finest Amarones will reward patience until 2030 and beyond.
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