Valpolicella

Valpolicella is a hilly wine zone in the province of Verona, east of Lake Garda and north of the Adige, and ranks just after Chianti in Italian DOC wine production. Its reds are made mostly from Corvina Veronese, Rondinella and Molinara, in styles that run from light young Valpolicella to recioto dessert wine and Amarone, made from dried grapes. The name appears in charters of the mid-12th century, and the region was granted its own DOC in 1968. Seven comuni make up Valpolicella, among them Negrar, Fumane and San Pietro in Cariano, and the best-placed vineyards sit in the Monti Lessini foothills. It is close enough to Verona for an afternoon, and worth a whole day.