Graziano Prà
The Estate
Graziano Prà has dedicated his life to tending for vines on the ancient black soils of Monteforte d’Alpone. Graziano Prà has been managing the winery since the beginning of the 1980s, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, giving wine lovers one of the most interesting Garganega wines available. Uncompromising in his search for quality and in the way he interprets the prestigious soils with which he works, his wines all have finesse and elegance with a distinct presence of minerals.
Born as a creator of outstanding white wines, he took on the challenge of La Morandina, an organically farmed vineyard on the higher slopes of the valley of Mezzane that produces authentic and intense Valpolicella wines. He has brought international fame to small wine producing areas: small prestigious cru in quality wine-producing regions.
The approach to his work is based on being true to the land. Graziano’s wines are pure expressions of the land and the grapes. He loves the vine plant and tends to it with great modesty and attention. The implementation of organic agriculture for the wines of the Valpolicella was for him an act of love towards a land which was untouched and uncontaminated and from which the vines steadily rise from the ancient marl fossils.
The Wine
Working the black volcanic soils of Monteforte d’Alpone, Prà produces some of the most interesting expressions of the Garganega variety, defined by their finesse, elegance, and distinctive volcanic minerality. This grape, with its golden bunches, has covered the black hillsides of the region forever; they are the part of the tradition of winemaking here. To preserve the tradition of the region, Trebbiano di Soave is also co-planted. All of his white wines are made from vines with an average age of 30 to 60 years.
In Valpolicella, in Mezzane and Tregnano, he works with high elevation vineyards at 450 meters on sites rich in limestone. There, he elevates the region’s particular terroir, specifically the tipicity of the cru Morandina, with its heightened mineral, balsamic, and spicy notes, by bringing a white winemaker’s approach to his Valpolicella and Amarone wines. His Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, a compelling blend of power and finesse with ripe fruit and high-toned aromatics, is made with the traditional varieties of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Osetela, and others, all first selection dried on racks for two months before destemming, pressing, and vinification. The wines are racked and returned, followed by two years aging in tonneaux and barriques, and a further year in 20hl Allier oak casks once blended. The Valpolicella Ripasso DOC “Morandina” shows plush berry fruits alongside its freshness and lifted aromas. Made from the juice which macerated for five days with the concentrated skins from the Amarone press, the Ripasso spends 12 months in Allier oak casks before release.