While in Italy I had to make a stop to one of my favorite wine growing areas: Verona! Here you’ll find some of the best big bold reds, along with some fresh Whites and Rosé too! The winery has over sixty years of dedication to wine and have been owners since 1958 as a family owned winery. They have a loyalty to the land, and Monte Del Frà is in South Garda in Somacampangna, Italy. They are a winery dedicated to respecting nature and do not add in any additives to their wines as well as keep the cellars extremely cool to respect the wines.

“Be hungry, and never stop doing what you love”.– Marcia Bonomo, of the Bonomo Family.

They began as growers of strawberries and peaches before turning to grapes and winemaking. They never stopped and their passion made some amazing dreams come true! Marica who I met is in charge of Exporting the wines and is truly one of a kind. She is a powerhouse and a total rockstar at the winery and we had the best time discussing trends in wine, as well as what we see for the future of the wines from the Somacampangna area. They’re a big winery and export about 1,500,000 bottles each year!

I had the pleasure of tasting their lineup of fabulous wines with Marcia when I visited this summer and it was a blast. The winery is gorgeous with a nice cool cellar, big barrel rooms, and a great tasting event space. This winery is one not to miss out on if you’re in the Verona area. We began our tasting with Monte Del Fra Custoza which was delightful and fresh with nice peaches and stone fruit. It had a nice backbone of honey notes, acidity, and minerality which made it ideal for the hot weather in Italy. One of my favorites in the lineup was the second one we tasted the Ca Del Margo, a wine from 55 year old vines on a sunny hill in Custoza. It has a beautiful perfume nose with that old vine character and acidic palate. The sunny hill ripens the grapes well while the stones and old vines give this wine a lot of complexity and character. It’s elegant and delicious and would be perfect with grilled fish and polenta; something I ate a lot of in Italy.

One wine uses the families surname, and its a wine my husband still talks about! The Bonomo Sexagenta is full of citrus, honey, and a touch of creaminess. It sees 35% wood, 35% concrete, and 30% steel tanks which creates a very harmonious wine. The vines are grown in moranic soils which gives this wine a playful salinity and a lightness. This wine has nice body and fruit too, and is great for a casual setting when you want something just simply beautiful to sip on. After we enjoyed the Lugana from South Lake Garda which is so delicious for summer and even fall sipping. This Trebbiano from Lugana is incredibly fresh and lively with citrus, white flowers and some underripe stone fruit notes. This wine is a perfect aperitif wine as well as with cheeses, seafood, and risotto!

They also produce a Chiaretto Bardolino which is a blend of corvina and molinara grape varieties and spends 11 hours on the skins. It has a beautiful light pink color almost like the color of a sunset! It’s an easy drinking wine with nice fruit and freshness with soft acidity and a great finish. It’s really a delicious one, and one of my favorite Chiaretto’s! This wine would be great with burgers and to bring to a picnic or barbecue. I also really enjoyed the Bardolino in our tasting too, which can be served slightly chilled and is ideal for this warm weather. Ever since my trip to Bardolino I have been so fascinated with the wines, and this is absolutely one of my favorite wine producing areas for when I want lighter bodied but full flavored wines. This bardolino won my heart and has a nice softness and minerality on the finish, followed by nice spice, berries, and complexity. It’s an easy to drink wine with a lot of layers and charm. This is a wine you can drink anytime, anywhere and everyone will enjoy it!

Monte del Fra also produces some Valpolicella Classico, a Valpolicella Classico Superiore, and a Ripasso as well which are well known in the Verona area. We stayed at this beautiful B&B after our visit to the winery, and we enjoyed the Ripasso with dinner, where it went well with truffle pasta, bbq eel, and venison! These wines are a blend of Corvina Veronese, Corvinone, Rondinella grapes
from the Valpolicella Classico DOC area. The Classico is full of black fruit, floral notes, plums, and lingering spice. It’s a wonderful wine and a great entry point if you’d new to the wines of this area.

The Superiore is well balanced and smooth with nice ripe fruit, cinnamon, and pepper spice. The nose is full of cherries and spice as well, and it has a nice long finish with an alluring earthiness. This wine is great with red meats as well as grilled vegetables and tomato based dishes. The Ripasso is really beautiful but can also do well with some age and has a nice long finish. This wine is young and has nice ripe tannins fruity and floral aromas with hints of cigar box and sweet baking spice. This wine is really wonderful and can be enjoyed with stews as well as braised meats, and even Thai cuisine!

 

If you’re looking for some of these incredible wines you can find them in the US, they do export here. I have some vintages here at home, and can’t wait to make some Italian inspired meals with my Monte Del Frà wines. If you have the chance to make it to Verona and want the most perfect day trip, make sure to visit this winery and then enjoy dinner at Casino de Caccia or stay there overnight.

A huge thank you to Studio Cru for brining me to this amazing winery and spending the weekend touring us around Northern Italy!