I Castei Recioto della Valpolicella Classico DOCG (1995)

About this wine

Michele Castellani I Castei Recioto della Valpolicella Classico 1995 is a sweet red from the Valpolicella Classica zone, made from the traditional local blend led by Corvina and Corvinone with Rondinella and other permitted grapes, including Molinara. The grapes are dried after harvest in the winery fruit drying lofts to concentrate sugars and flavors, then the wine is fermented slowly and the fermentation is stopped so notable residual sweetness remains. In the glass, expect an intense garnet to deep ruby color, and a nose that leans toward violet, fruit in syrup, plum, and cherry, with clear notes of vanilla and cocoa. The palate is sweet and dense but should still feel lifted by Valpolicella acidity, with flavors that recall dried cherry, stewed plum, and bittersweet chocolate, plus gentle spice. The long bottle age from a 1995 vintage can also bring more developed tones, such as leather, tobacco, and a lightly balsamic finish, while keeping the core of dried fruit intact.

About the grape

This Recioto della Valpolicella Classico from Michele Castellani, I Castei uses the traditional Valpolicella quartet, led by Corvina, a historic Veronese grape documented for centuries and valued for its thick skins and late ripening, which help it handle long drying in fruttai before fermentation. Corvinone, once confused with Corvina but formally recognized as its own variety in the modern era, brings larger bunches and berries that also dry well, and the DOCG rules even allow it to replace a substantial share of Corvina in the blend. Rondinella, identified by ampelographers in the Verona area in the late nineteenth century, is prized by growers for steady yields and good disease resistance, and its ability to accumulate sugar makes it a dependable partner for appassimento based wines like Recioto. Molinara is an old local Verona variety named for the flour like bloom on its berries, it was long a standard part of Valpolicella blends and is still used by traditional producers in small amounts to keep the blend lively alongside fruit grown on the Classico zones clay and limestone hillsides.

Quick facts

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 This Recioto comes from the family estate founded by Michele Castellani in Valgatara in 1945, now grown into a modern 40 hectare Valpolicella operation led by Sergio Castellani and family.
• 🧺 It is made in classic Recioto style by hand selecting grapes at harvest, drying them in the winery’s fruit cellars, then running a very slow fermentation that is intentionally slowed and stopped to keep high natural residual sugar.
• 🍾 The “I Castei” Recioto is typically bottled in a 500 ml format and released as an intense garnet sweet red around 14% alcohol, a very traditional half bottle size for this historic passito wine.
• 👂 Recioto’s name is a piece of local dialect trivia, it comes from “recie” meaning “ears,” the sunniest top lobes of a grape bunch that ripen the most and were historically picked for the richest sweet wines.
• 🕰️ Your 1995 is a real time capsule because Recioto della Valpolicella only became DOCG in 2010, so this bottle was produced in the earlier DOC era before the denomination’s “guaranteed” upgrade.

Palate profile

Producer

Castellani Michele and Figli is a family run Valpolicella estate founded in 1945 by Michele Castellani in Valgatara, in the hills northwest of Verona. It began as a small winemaking workshop and grew into a modern estate supported by ongoing investment in vineyards and cellar equipment. The winery is known for classic Valpolicella wines, with special emphasis on the drying process used for Amarone and Recioto. Today the company is led by Sergio Castellani with the next generation of the family involved across viticulture, winemaking, and international sales. Its vineyards include about 17 hectares in Valpolicella Classica, alongside additional estate holdings that bring the property to around 40 hectares overall.