Valpolicella, Italy: Drink it in

It's peaceful in the hills of Valpolicella. The grapes are growing on their vines, soaking in the sun, waiting for maturity and the fall harvest that will produce some of Italy's finest wines. Only the occasional tourists venture to this region tucked away in the north of Italy, coming out on day trips from the nearby city of Verona or from Lake Garda.

Valpolicella is one of Italy's most idyllic settings, but it's also among the country's best-kept secrets, with most tourists seemingly unaware of its scenic routes, its medieval churches and Renaissance villas, and its award-winning wines. But the region, comprising three valleys that run parallel on a north-south axis, each named after its biggest town -- Negrar to the east, Marano in the middle, Fumane to the west -- makes for a wonderful stop during a trip to northern Italy.

One bright morning last fall, I visit the Villa Monteleone, an estate outside the town of Gargagnago in the Fumane valley. Its owner is Lucia Duran Raimondi, a strong-minded but amiable woman in her early 60s with short, curly hair and a hint of a Spanish accent. She was born in Bogota, Colombia, but spent most of her adult life in Chicago, where she met Anthony Raimondi, a globally renowned physician who was considered the father of pediatric neurosurgery. After marrying, the couple moved to Italy in 1988. They stumbled upon a 17th-century villa in Valpolicella, settled down and began making wine. "Neurosurgery was his profession," Raimondi says fondly of her late husband, "but wine was his passion."

She pours each of her six guests a glass of Recioto, a sweet red wine with hints of dried fruit and apricots, from the 2004 vintage. The room we're in, like much of this charming estate, is unpretentious, with dark wooden floors, a stone fireplace and winemaking awards hanging on the walls. The dining table is dressed with white paper mats, red-wine glasses and plates of cheese and breadsticks.

As the wine flows, Raimondi gushes. "Recioto is a wine waiting to be discovered," she says enthusiastically. "It's sweet, but calling it a dessert wine is limiting. It's such a wonderful wine."

Villa Monteleone produces Valpolicella Classico, Valpolicella Classico Superiore, Recioto and the flagship Amarone. If Recioto is sweet, Classico is fruity and fragrant. Amarone is much more complex, with a strong body, a higher alcohol content and a rich taste full of aromas. The superior version of Valpolicella, the Superiore, falls somewhere between the freshness of Classico and the rich complexity of Amarone.

According to Maurizio Boselli, professor of viticulture at the University of Verona, two factors make the Valpolicella region perfect for winemaking: the Lessini Mountains to the north, which protect it from the Alpine winds, and Lake Garda to the west. "They combine to create a warm, temperate climate similar to that of Tuscany," Boselli says. Tuscany is world famous for its scenic countryside and its wines; the town of Montalcino, home to Brunello di Montalcino wine, is Italy's wine tourism capital, with approximately 2 million visitors flocking there every year.

Like the region around Montalcino, Valpolicella is dotted with wine producers, just sans the crowds, so far. But winemaking isn't new to the region, whose name is said to come from the Latin val polis cellae, or valley of many cellars. As far back as Roman times, this area was known across Italy for its sweet alcoholic nectar, an ancestor to Recioto.

Amarone, Valpolicella's most acclaimed wine, was born more recently.

"In the 1930s, a local wine producer forgot to interrupt the fermentation of the grapes at the moment that's needed for Recioto," explains Raimondi. "When the wine was ready, he realized it wasn't sweet at all." And so the name Amarone -- from "amaro," Italian for "sour" -- came to be.

For the visitor wanting a raw taste of Valpolicella, small, family-run businesses such as Raimondi's are the best bet. The owners will guide you through a tour of the vineyards and the cellar to the wine tasting room, talking about their bottles in the same loving way you might talk about your child.

Charm and glamour

"This land is not only my home, it is also my soul." Enrico Cascella Spinosa is muddy at the end of a long day of grape picking. We're sitting on the panoramic terrace he has built in the middle of his villa's Italian-style lawn, overlooking the expanse of vineyards below. Spinosa is the sole heir to a winemaking dynasty that has owned this property since the early 1800s. The three-story mansion sits behind the terrace, at the center of a private courtyard.