A New Chapter for Allegrini

The famed Valpolicella producer is expanding its portfolio.

QRW Staff

Marilisa Allegrini (photo: © Lidia Costantini)

The 19th annual Boston Harbor Hotel Wine Festival has just ended. It’s the oldest of its kind and the best of its kind in the country; few would argue this. It’s where chef extraordinaire and national culinary personality Daniel Bruce has his domain, and it’s where each year more than 45 of his imperial wine dinners are served to guests eager to experience his imaginative food fare and incredible wine pairings (see tasting notes below). His wine pairings alone are worth the price of admission. Every wine dinner was sold out. Bruce is, moreover, inexhaustible, insisting that no menu is ever exactly repeated. When asked if this year he had a favorite wine dinner, Bruce immediately conjured the name of Allegrini. “The wines are fantastic, offering some of the most persuasive expressions of Valpolicella and Amarone in the region. The finer the wine, the greater the challenge.”

Bruce is not exaggerating. Of the several fine producers in the Veneto, few would debate the efficacy of Allegrini. At the Boston Harbor Festival, Leonardo LoCascio and Marilisa Allegrini put their wines on show. LoCascio is the head of Winebow, one of the better known wine importers in the U.S., with an enviable Italian portfolio. (Robert Parker has tossed his garlands around Winebow and given it his blessings, calling it the most successful and innovative of importers.) Marilisa Allegrini handles sales and marketing for the third generation family winery, where her brother Franco is winemaker (she is also a culinary expert and, with Giuliano Hazan, runs the cooking school Villa Giona in Verona). LoCascio and Marilisa Allegrini partnered in 2002 to create the splendid San Polo and Poggio al Tesoro wines. A former corporate man, LoCascio knew he had a passion for something other than corporate life, and found it in 1985 when he created Winebow. He is urbane, engaging, and knowing. Marilisa is a beauty who exudes charm and who knows her wines. Together, they have duende and style; and at a seminar of Allegrini and of their partnered wines held before the wine dinner, they showed it.

Allegrini wines are in demand, outstripping a supply that is understandably limited. Their 50-acre estate is on some of the choicest land in the Valpolicella Classico, and Valpolicella and Amarone are their well known strengths. The newly partnered wines from Leonardo and Marilisa are receiving just as much attention, namely the Poggio al Tesoro from Bolgheri (Tuscany), and several wine offerings from San Polo Estate in Montalcino. Both are Bordeaux inspired estates. These were chiefly the wines LoCascio and Allegrini showcased both at the seminar and wine dinner. The wines are not inexpensive and yet when compared to the other global wines of comparable quality, they are an absolute bargain. Prices ranging from $35 to $100 per bottle.

The Wines

• 2006 Poggio al Tesoro “Solosole” IGT, $26. Lovely appetizer wine. Fresh, good acidity, crisp, soft fruit, apricot and nectar notes. Delicious white wine. (Chef Bruce served steamed eastern Atlantic rombo filet with pink grapefruit butter.)
  
  
• 2005 Poggio al Tesoro Sondraia IGT, $48. Largely Cabernet Sauvignon based. Juicy, soft with rich mocha tones, cherry and blackberry. Long and deep finish. (Chef Bruce’s Cabernet braised veal osso bucco “deconstructed” was other worldly — deconstruction means the basic components of meat and marrow are cooked and braised separately side by side, and then re-constructed).
  
  
• 2003 San Polo Rosso di Montalcino DOC, $25. 100% Sangiovese. Generous wine with black cherry and rich blackberry. Spice, vanilla, with lots of ripe fruit and more vanilla and spice in the finish. Very fine. (Chef Bruce served with this and with the 2001 San Polo Brunello [see below] pearl onion, porcini, and cranberry shell bean chili in a pastry dome; it was to die for.)
  
  
• 2003 Allegrini LaPoja IGT (Veronese), $125. Superb Valpolicella. Plum, blackberry, spice, dark mocha, chocolate. Delicious. Superb.
  
  
• 2003 Allegrini Villa Giona IGT (Veronese), $74. Red blend with Cabernet, Merlot, and Syrah. Raisins, blackberry, rich mocha notes, spice and vanilla. Complex. Long finish. Buy lots.
  
  
• 2003 Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC, $90. Big, gorgeous, well made. Dried rich fruit. Blackberry-cherry, sumptuous jam notes, charred oak, intense. Grandly complex. Cellar.
  
  
• 2001 San Polo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, $85. One of the great Allegrini productions. 100% Sangiovese. Floral aromas, soft oak, rich red fruit, with coffee and mocha throughout. Gorgeous wine from a fine vintage.
  
  
• 2006 Renacer Enamore, $36. A joint venture between Marilisa Allegrini and Renacer of Argentina. Largely Malbec. Rich plum and ripe berries. Chocolate-mocha and spice. Easy oak. Supple. Very approachable and very nice.