Ten Years with Campagnola: Our Amarone of Choice
A wine that connects and stays—a wine you can sip slowly and feel it unfold.
Jan de Weerd - Spoken Wines
This will hide itself!
Ten Years with Campagnola: Our Amarone of Choice
A wine that connects and stays—a wine you can sip slowly and feel it unfold.
Some wines come and go. Others stay with you—bottles you return to time and again because they speak to something deeper. They connect like a treasured friend, no matter how long it’s been since you’ve seen them.
For us at Spoken Wines, Campagnola’s Amarone is that wine. We’ve loved it for over a decade. We’ve shared it, celebrated with it, and cellared it. It’s an Amarone we trust, savor, and admire. Our recent visit to Campagnola in Marano di Valpolicella wasn’t just another winery stop. It was a long-awaited pilgrimage to the source of one of our all-time favorite wines. And no one could have welcomed us better than Camille. She grew up in the village just above the estate, overlooking the vineyards and winery her entire life—and now, she works there. Engaging, knowledgeable, and sincerely proud of the wines she poured, Camille brought the experience full circle.
A Family Legacy Rooted in Valpolicella
Camille explained that the Campagnola family's winemaking journey began in 1907 with Carlo Campagnola and his wife, Caterina Zardini. After Carlo’s early passing, it was Caterina’s strength and resilience that carried the winery forward through challenging times. The turning point came when their Recioto won acclaim at the Verona Wine Exhibition—a triumph that laid the foundation for what was to come. Today, her name graces their finest wines in tribute. Now in its fifth generation, the Campagnola family continues the legacy with passion, crafting wines from 80 hectares in the heart of Valpolicella Classica.
Campagnola family's winemaking journey began in 1907 with Carlo Campagnola and his wife, Caterina Zardini.
The Tasting Experience
Our tasting journey covered the full spectrum of Campagnola’s Valpolicella expressions. It was eye-opening to realize that these vastly different wines—all with unique depth and personality—stem from the same blend of grape varieties: mainly Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella, and often even from the same vineyards. The difference lies in how they are processed and aged.
Valpolicella Classico: A fresh and vibrant expression, showcasing bright red cherry notes. Aged only 4–6 months in barrel before bottling—a youthful, fruit-driven wine.
Valpolicella Classico Superiore Caterina Zardini: A tribute to the matriarch herself, this wine is more structured, with intense yet beautifully balanced flavors—rounded and velvety. For this cuvée, the grapes are dried for 20 days before fermentation and aged for twelve months in oak. Taste the difference!
Valpolicella Ripasso Classico Superiore: Echoing the depth of Amarone but in a more approachable way. Here, the freshly fermented Valpolicella wine undergoes a second fermentation (Ripasso = “second passing”) four months later, in February, on the pomace (skins, seeds, etc.) left over from the Amarone process. Leave it to the Italians to get the best use out of leftovers!
Campagnola Amarone Della Valpolicella: This was why we came and it did not disappoint. The star of the tasting. A complete symphony of dark dried plum, black cherry, and subtle earthy undertones, carried by fine-grained tannins and a long, mineral-edged finish.
(Curious how Amarone is made? Read our blog on Monte Dall’ Ora to dive deep into the process—but in short, the grapes are dried for 3–4 months until they lose 30–40% of their weight, concentrating sugars and flavors into something rich, elegant, and unforgettable.)
Our tasting journey covered the full spectrum of Campagnola’s Valpolicella expressions.
Amarone That Endures
We first fell for Campagnola’s Amarone over ten years ago. And ever since, no vintage has scored below a 9.3 in our books—some reaching as high as 9.7. This isn’t just great Amarone. It’s Amarone that connects and stays—flavorful, balanced, structured, and vibrant. A wine you can sip slowly and feel it unfold—layer after harmonious layer. We still have bottles from 2012 through 2020 resting in our home cellar. Tasting them over the years has been a memorable experience. Each vintage adds a new dimension, a new memory. It was this deep, lasting connection that drew us to Campagnola in the first place.
And tasting at the source only deepened our appreciation.
