Tasting Notes
Primofiore means first flower, and it is the first wine Quintarelli releases from any vintage, which makes it the way into a cellar where most bottles disappear for the better part of a decade. It is built from roughly half Corvina and Corvinone and half Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, the combination Giuseppe Quintarelli used to prove that Bordeaux varieties could make something unmistakably Veneto; the Cabernet is given a short spell drying on mats while the Corvina goes in fresh. Two years in large old Slavonian casks follow, which counts as young only at this address. Calling it a baby wine undersells it badly: the fresh red and black fruit sits on something much richer, and an hour of air brings out earth, leather and smoke. The 2024 is bright and firm, on the fresher side of the range, and it will reward a decant now or a few years in the cellar. The most approachable way to understand what the fuss is about.