Grapes: Corvina, corvinone, and rondiella Character: Spicy, slightly developed taste with hints of barrel, ripe strawberries, nuts, cherries, bitter orange, cinnamon and chocolate. Goes well with: Serve at around 18°C with lamb or beef dishes. About the wine: Behind the new Amarone Lucia de Maio is the Cantine di Verona wine group, which was formed in 2021 through the merger of three wineries; Cantina Valpantena, Cantina di Custoza and Cantina Colli Morenici. From the hills of Valpolicella to Lake Garda, they have over 1,800 hectares of vineyards, distributed among the 500 winegrowers who are the driving force behind the wine group. The Amarone Lucia de Maio wine was recently launched in Sweden, which we tried here. The winemaker responsible for the wine in question is Donato Giuliani, who dedicated the wine to his mother – Lucia. The grape blend contains dominant corvina, supported by smaller parts of corvinone and rondinella, which are dried according to the appassimento method for 100-120 days. The grapes are then carefully destemmed before maceration and fermentation in temperature-controlled steel tanks. This is followed by 24-30 months of rest in large Slovenian oak barrels and French tonneaux, followed by six months in bottle before being released to the market.