Marion, Veneto

New to the Berrys’ portfolio of Italian fine wine producers is the Valpolicella family estate of Marion; site of a splendid 15th century villa in the valley of Marcellise, once owned by the Conte Marioni. Skip forward to 1986 when the estate was bought by the Campedelli family, which suited Stefano, a trained surveyor perfectly as he loathed the office! Together with his wife Nicoletta Fornasa, and brother Marco, Stefano started bottling in 1995; now the property has 22 ha producing 70,000 bts/annum. Along the way his wines have been fine-tuned by consultants Celestino Gaspari and since 2006 by Damiano Peroni. The estate lies just outside the Classico zone on predominantly chalk soils, giving wines of purity.