Good enough for Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway, who drank a few hogsheads of red when he was convalescing in Northern Italy after being wounded in World War I, had some lucid words to describe the wines of Valpolicella.

'They're dry, red and cordial, like the home of a brother with whom you get along,' wrote the American novelist.

Maybe. They also taste exceptionally good and some of the examples we get in Hong Kong are not all that expensive, providing prime value for money. What more do you want? When Hemingway was lying in hospital, Luigi Righetti had already been making quality wines just outside Verona for a decade. The estate is still family-owned, giving the wines that elusive feeling - maybe it's illusory - that comes when vintages year after year, generation after generation, come from the same family.

Anyway, old Luigi built a big, solid stone winery in Valgatarra, the heart of the classical Valpolicella region, and proceeded to make big, solid wines - as it does today.

The family favourite is the Campolieti, a snappy little number. The colour is light and the aroma strong, with almonds and cherries coming through. The name means 'Happy Fields' and the land is dry and thin; this makes the grapes work harder.

It's a mixture of corvina, molinara and rondinella fruit, which gives this a delightfully different taste. It's invigorating and cheerful, an uplifting wine. At $88 a bottle, from the Italian wine specialists Valdivia, it certainly lifted me a bit; as I tasted the 95 vintage with a bit of brie on a wet and cloudy day, it brought a ray of sunshine into life.

Also on sale here is the 95 Valcaia, which blends corvina and that most lovely Italian grape, sangiovese, with the French classic cabernet sauvignon. This is interesting. The grapes are left on wooden boards in the open to dry a little before being pressed. The juice ferments in small oak barrels. It's then purified before going into different barrels to mature for a year. When you finally get your hands on this ($108) the wine smells of young vanilla and concentrated grapes. This is really too good to drink now, but, what the hell, it's also too good to let stand about unopened.