Masi

Every serious Amarone on a wine list owes a little to a family in Valpolicella that treated dried grapes like a science project. Masi didn't invent appassimento — the Veneto has been drying grapes since antiquity — but it did more than anyone to make the resulting wine famous, consistent, and exportable. If you've ever ordered an Amarone abroad, this is partly why.

The house sits in the Valpolicella hills above Verona, in Veneto, and it's one of the region's historic names — run for generations by the Boscaini family. Its whole story is the story of one technique: what happens when you dry the grapes before you crush them. Do it well and you get Amarone, the great dry powerhouse of the north. Masi has spent decades doing it exceptionally well, and teaching the wine world to care.

The masters of the drying loft

The magic happens before fermentation even starts. After harvest, bunches of Corvina and its partners go up into airy lofts and rest on racks for months, slowly shrivelling toward raisins as the flavour concentrates and the water evaporates. It's patient, risky work — a humid autumn can bring rot and ruin a whole loft — and Masi has turned it into something close to a discipline, obsessing over grape selection, airflow and timing.

The other Masi contribution is cleverer still. In the 1960s the house took a humble young Valpolicella and re-fermented it over the leftover skins of the Amarone — a technique that borrowed the big wine's richness for a fraction of the effort. They called the wine Campofiorin, and it did more than any single bottle to popularise what we now call Ripasso. It remains one of the great value reds of Italy.

Masi's genius was never just making the grand wine. It was making the grand technique repeatable — and then making a brilliant everyday wine out of the leftovers.

The wines

A wide range, but the spine is clear and easy to navigate.

Start with Campofiorin — the ripasso-style red that started it all. Dark cherry, dried fig, a warm spiced depth, and a smoothness that punches far above its price. This is the everyday Masi, and one of the smartest-value bottles in the whole Italian aisle. Step up to Brolo Campofiorin Oro when you want the same idea with more concentration and polish.

At the top sits Costasera, the flagship Amarone — sourced from the best Classico-zone slopes that catch the evening sun off Lake Garda (that's the name: costa sera, evening slope). Dried cherry, chocolate, fig and a velvety, glycerol-rich weight, built to age for many years. If you're buying one Masi to understand what the house is about, this is it.

Beyond the icons, Masi works with the near-forgotten local Oseleta grape and makes a broad spread of Valpolicella, Recioto and beyond. But Campofiorin and Costasera are the two poles you need.

The setting

Valpolicella climbs in green terraced valleys north of Verona, marble villas and cypress and vine everywhere you look — the Classico heart, the historic core, is the prettiest of it. What makes the region unlike anywhere else is what you don't see in the vineyard: the drying lofts, tucked into cellars and barns, where the vintage sits waiting through the winter. Time a visit for late autumn and you might catch the racks full — the single most Valpolicella thing there is.

Visiting

Here's the good news for travellers: Masi is one of the more welcoming of the great Amarone houses. It runs a genuine wine-tourism operation — structured tastings and experiences built for visitors, not just trade — which means you can actually get in and taste the full arc from Campofiorin to Costasera without knowing someone. Book ahead, especially around harvest, and confirm current options with the estate.

Base yourself in Verona — close, beautiful, and the natural gateway — and run out into the hills for the day. The classic move is to pair Valpolicella with the drive up from Venice; the Venice-to-Valpolicella route makes an easy, scenic approach.

What to buy

Match the bottle to the night. For everyday drinking and pure value, Campofiorin is the pick — the wine that made the ripasso idea famous, and still a benchmark. When you want the grand statement — a slow-cooked winter dinner, a bottle to age — Costasera Amarone is the one to open. And if Campofiorin has won you over and you want the serious version, Brolo Campofiorin Oro is the step up that keeps the value story intact.