A co-fermented field blend representing the entirety of Clementi’s vineyards, the Valpolicella Classico comprises roughly 65% Corvina, 30% Rondinella, and 5% Molinara (plus a tiny amount of Osoleta), typically harvested in mid-September. Fermented via indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, it is bottled in May following harvest after a relatively brief passage in steel—a regimen which emphasizes the brisk, red-fruited, gluggable qualities of wines from this high-altitude sub-Alpine zone.

Pietro has always tried to produce the kind of Valpolicella wine he grew up with, resisting trends in the 1990s toward richness, extraction, and new-oak presence—trends which dog the zone’s reputation in certain circles to this day. In that vein, he and his children employ natural fermentations (assisted by pied de cuve if necessary), natural clarifications without fining or filtering, and pointedly long aging for their Amarone.