Ponte Pietra, Merlot/Corvina, 2019

Veneto Italy

A lovely ripe cherry pie nose, with plummy soft notes and a juicy fresh palate.

Tasting notes

This is a delicious blend offering the soft blackberry of the Merlot in harmony with the characteristic cherry blossom and ripe cherry pie character of Corvina. It is a fresh and well-balanced wine.

Vinyards

The fruit for the Merlot Corvina is grown in vineyards situated next to the Soave zone in the Val d'Alpone. The Merlot is grown on the warm, sheltered plains, on clay soils, and the Corvina in the foothills on tufaceous basalt soils. All of the vineyards have excellent exposure, which helps to ensure complete ripeness.

Vinification

The grapes were hand harvested, destemmed, crushed and pumped into stainless-steel tanks. 25% of the juice was drained from the tank in order to increase the ratio of skins to juice, which in turn resulted in a wine with greater colour and flavour. The wine was pumped over the cap every hour in the early stages to increase extraction further. It was left in contact with the skins for four to five days and fermentation took place at temperatures up to 30°C. After pressing, the wine was aged in stainless-steel tanks until bottling.

Producer

These wines are made by Matt Thomson at the Cantina di Monteforte. Verona's 'Ponte Pietra' (stone bridge) dates back to Roman times, although vines have been planted on the hills outside of Verona for much longer than this bridge has spanned the Adige River.