L'Arco Rosso del Veronese / 2022 / 750mL

The L'Arco Rosso del Veronese 2022 is a Veneto red built from old-vine Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Molinara from the Valpolicella Classico zone, with around 15% Sangiovese making up the balance. Made by Luca Fedrigo in Negrar, it is a savoury, mid-weight wine that leans on fragrance and freshness rather than power.

Sour cherry and dried rose lead the aromatics, with bitter almond, tobacco leaf and a dusty note of dried herbs behind them. Wild-yeast ferment and time in large Slavonian oak casks give the fruit an old-school Valpolicella tang, closer to macerated red plum than anything jammy.

The palate is medium-bodied and quite firm, with fine, slightly grippy tannins and a clean acid line that keeps everything upright. That touch of Sangiovese shows in the sappiness through the middle, and the finish is dry and faintly bitter in the best Italian sense, more herbal than sweet.

Pork ragù with pappardelle is the obvious call, though it handles roast duck, grilled radicchio, mushroom risotto or a plate of aged Monte Veronese just as happily. Serve it at around 16°C so the perfume comes through.

Drinking well from now, and with the structure to keep developing over the next eight to ten years.