Capitel Fontana (1993)

About this wine

Capitel Monte Fontana is Tedeschi’s Recioto della Valpolicella Classico, made from selected grapes from the Monte Fontana vineyard area in Pedemonte, Valpolicella Classica. () The grapes are dried for about four months before fermentation, concentrating color, aroma, and sweetness. () Fermentation is naturally arrested to keep residual sugar, then the wine matures for about two years in Slavonian oak barrels. () With bottle age from the 1993 vintage, expect evolved notes of dried sour cherry, prune, candied orange peel, and raisins, alongside cocoa, sweet tobacco, and gentle wood spice, with a smooth, glycerol texture and a balancing line of acidity. () The traditional blend for this bottling is based on Valpolicella’s classic varieties, including Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara, which help keep the finish fresh rather than cloying even at full ripeness and concentration. ()

About the grape

Corvina is the historic backbone of Valpolicella, prized for its cherry driven aromatics and thick skins, and in this Tedeschi bottling it supplies the bulk of the fruit used for controlled appassimento drying to concentrate sugars and acids. Corvinone is a later identified partner to Corvina, allowed as a partial substitute in local rules, and it contributes larger berries and robust phenolics that help the wine withstand the four month drying period. Rondinella is a high yielding local variety often planted in the same terraces, it provides reliable crop and floral notes and is used here to balance volumes and promote even drying across the bunches. Molinara is included in small amounts in traditional blends from this zone, historically valued for its lighter tannins and lift, and though its use has declined in some parcels it still plays a role in blending choices for structure and acidity in Tedeschi s Recioto Capitel Monte Fontana.

Quick facts

• 🍀 The word “Capitel” on the label is a stylized folk talisman the Tedeschi family uses across their wines, originally meant as a little lucky charm for the vineyard rather than a technical name.
• 🌄 Capitel Fontana comes from a tiny, named parcel on the Pedemonte hills — many bottles come from a one-hectare east‑facing terrace, so every vintage is essentially a single‑plot story.
• 🍇 This Recioto is made by appassimento (drying grapes for about four months in small crates), a dramatic concentration trick that turns table grapes into intensely sweet, ageable wine.
• 🎁 Tedeschi bottles of Capitel Fontana are often released in half‑bottles (50 cl) for this style, a historic custom that helped preserve sweetness and made the wine a popular gift and collector’s item.
• 🏛️ Drinking a 1993 Capitel Fontana means tasting a piece of the Tedeschi family’s long story — the family’s documented vine ownership goes back to 1630 and the modern company to 1824, so that 1993 bottle carries centuries of place and tradition.

Palate profile

Producer

Tedeschi Family Winery, located in Calistoga, California, has deep roots in Napa Valley, with the Tedeschi family residing there for several generations. In the 1950s, Eugene Tedeschi purchased the current estate, initially planting grapevines among existing fruit trees. His son, Emil Tedeschi, co-founded Maui Wine in Hawaii in 1974 before returning to Napa Valley in 1991 to establish the family winery on their Calistoga property. Today, the winery is managed by Emil's children, Emilio and Mario, who continue the family's tradition of producing handcrafted, old-world style wines.