Movimento Turismo del Vino women: profiles of winemakers who colour the world of wine “Pink”. Marilisa Allegrini: ambassador of Made in Valpolicella

Ambassador of wines with almost six hundred years of history, Marilisa Allegrini is “Lady Amarone”, the symbol of Valpolicella from Verona. She is one of the Allegrini first ladies after grandmother Caterina, who defines herself as being a “tough one”. And then there is the rite that Marilisa and her family have carried on over the years: the “Ganzega”, the tradition of celebrating the end of the harvest with those who worked it.

But Marilisa’s destiny was not written as such from the start. As a girl, it did not seem necessary that she would work at the winery since it was the son who carried on the tradition in farming families, so she started a career as a physiotherapist. But the call of her identity brought her back to her roots keeping her father’s teachings in mind: no shortcuts, it takes hard work, and the land is generous to those who persevere. If you ask Marilisa what her favourite vineyard is, without hesitation, she replies “La Poja”, which her father purchased in 1979 fulfilling his dream.

At the head of Amarone Families, the association that started in 2009 to defend the identity of the celebrated Valpolicella wine, Madame Allegrini works side by side with her brother. However they do not always agree with each other because discussions are fundamental in this field, and, as their father used to say, “If two people seated a table always agree with one another, one of the two doesn’t count for anything.”

But the Allegrini family has not stopped at Valpolicella. Among the great wine terroirs, they have chosen the land of Brunello, where they now own the San Polo winery (www.poggiosanpolo.com), member of Movimento Turismo del Vino.

“After Valpolicella, home of Amarone, where we were born, after Bolgheri, the first enchanting stop in Tuscany, the natural progression of our journey is to Montalcino, it is Brunello. For us, it is San Polo. The idea of San Polo is clear: maximizing the potential of the terroir, aiming for quality without compromises, offering our winery and our markets a further and prestigious chance to develop, thanks to the exquisite wines of Montalcino.”

The vineyards of the estate are cultivated according to principles of sustainable agriculture. The grapes, worked with artisanal care and methods conceived to reduce the minimum energetic waste and environmental impact, conserve and exalt the fineness of Sangiovese aromas making San Polo a new but an already authoritative example of the Brunello aristocracy. It is the absolute first in Tuscany and second in the world to have earned the ClimateHouse Wine certification, being sustainable from all points of view: ecologic, social, and economic. These are the requirements for receiving the coveted certification from the ClimateHouse Agency.

If you are looking for some tips on how to choose a wine, Marilisa suggests sticking to the historical areas of production: the name of the wine is not always a guarantee, but the winery is. “You can drink well without spending loads,” concludes Marilisa Allegrini, “but it depends on the wine. Amarone has a complex production, so be wary of bottles that cost too little.”