2016 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico TB

You really get a feel for what high elevation means when traveling from the Tommaso Bussola winery up to their vineyards in San Peretto and Montecchio. The parcels and vines that the family farms, today in the hands of Tommaso’s sons, Giuseppe and Paolo Bussola, range from 250 to 500 meters in elevation, and all in the Classico zone within Negrar. Even at this height, the soils are predominantly volcanic in origin with varying degrees of clay and limestone at lower elevations. As mentioned in my previous article on the region, 2022 will mark the year that the renowned Vigneto Alto vineyard will be torn up for replanting, which will change the Bussola portfolio drastically. However, while visiting the winery, I was also able to tour the new Trapola vineyard. Giuseppe Bussola is very happy to be working with this new location and its limestone-rich soils, which will be first released as a new Cru wine starting with the 2019 vintage. Trapola is a gorgeous location with pergola-trained vines, some as old as ninety years, as well as a bird’s-eye view of lake Garda, which also adds the moderating effects of Italy’s largest body of water. The family continues to use natural ventilation and traditional drying racks for their grapes, followed by refinement for three years in a combination of barriques and tonneaux (part new) and large casks for their selection of Amarone. The house Amarone, a blend of vineyards, is completed all in large oak casks. The Bussola style remains fully intact, a mix of tradition and innovation that creates dark, rich, sumptuous wines of incredible depth. Sometimes, a Bussola Amarone will feel like it’s almost too much, yet then it somehow pulls you back to reality, traversing sweet and savory, along with a structure to carry them for decades. These are benchmark wines.