This has been a long-time favourite in the shop. Many of you can't keep your hands off it! Allegrini have managed something amazing here. Let's have a little read...

The Allegrini family estate covers 100 hectares of vineyard in the heart of the Valpolicella Classico area. The family has been growing grapes here for six generations, but the estate in its current form was founded by Giovanni Allegrini. When he died in 1983, it passed to his three children, who ran it together until Walter's death in July 2003. Franco now looks after the vineyards and is the winemaker, and Marilisa is director of marketing.

Palazzo della Torre covers 26 hectares of east-facing vineyard planted between 1962 and 2013, situated 240 metres above sea level. Allegrini purchased this vineyard in 1978. Soils are cretaceous and calcareous, with Pergola trentina trained vines planted at 3,000 vines per hectare. 

While production quantities will be lower in 2014 thanks to a cloudy, wet summer, fine weather in September helped diligent producers harvest a smaller, but healthy crop. To counter the wet conditions, quality-oriented producers needed to do extensive work in the vineyards to battle disease and encourage ripening despite few sunny days. As such, this is a vintage of elegance rather than concentration.

Franco Allegrini used the modern version of the traditional 'ripasso' technique for Palazzo della Torre, drying a proportion of the grapes in the 'Terre di Fumane' drying centre, to intensify the character of this vineyard. The grapes to be dried were hand picked at the beginning of September, whereas those to be vinified immediately were picked at the end of the month. 70% of the grapes picked were vinified immediately and 30% were left to dry until the second half of December when they were vinified and then refermented with the wine from the fresh grapes. The wine spent 15 months in second-use barriques, was blended together for two months, then aged for a further seven months in bottle.

Allegrini Palazzo della Torre 2014 @ £18.95 - Buy it here!

Ruby red in colour, Palazzo della Torre has enticing aromas of cherry with rich dark chocolate notes. Velvety in texture, it is well-balanced and offers ripe, juicy dark fruit, with silky tannins and refreshing acidity.

Come and see what all the fuss is about. Perfect with a big roast dinner. Cheers!