Giuseppe Lonardi

In a little village not far from Verona, tucked into the romantic hills of Valpolicella, you will find the estate of one of the best Amarone producers in Italy—Giuseppe Lonardi. Bepi, as his wife likes to call him, is a fourth generation winemaker, and leads a beautiful, simple life. On average, he hand-crafts a scant 100-200 cases per year of each of his finest wines. Marilena, meanwhile, runs a tiny bistro near the cellars, where she has perfected one of the most sumptuous dishes we have ever tasted: a slow-cooked, Amarone-infused risotto. One family friend guarantees that the three most important things in Giuseppe’s life are Food, Wine and his Wife. “But,” he chuckles, “not necessarily in that order”. Marilena smiles fondly when you ask her about her husband: “He’s a workaholic. He basically sleeps with the wine.”

Note: A great toast surfaced at Bepi’s trattoria around the dinner table one night: “Peccato gravissimo ē quello di stare senza vino e senza amante.” Translation: “It is a grave mistake to live without wine and a lover.”