Quintarelli and Dal Forno: Valpolicella Visit Guide 2026

Giuseppe Quintarelli¹ in Negrar and Dal Forno Romano above Illasi are the two Valpolicella wine producers collectors most want to visit in 2026, and the practical answer is simple: do not plan on access without a trusted introduction. Visits to both estates are effectively closed to walk-in or cold-contact requests. Neither estate operates a public tasting room or lists on any booking platform. For most collectors, the realistic route is through a trusted Italian wine merchant with an existing relationship, and even then, patience is measured in years, not weeks.

Why Quintarelli and Dal Forno Keep Their Cellar Doors Closed

Quintarelli and Dal Forno did not scale to meet demand. Giuseppe Quintarelli, who died in 2012, leaving the estate to his daughter Fiorenza and her family, farmed a small holding in the Negrar valley and never expanded to chase volume. Dal Forno Romano, run by Romano Dal Forno and increasingly by his sons Michele, Luca, and Marco, works a similarly compact estate above Illasi, east of the classic Valpolicella zone. Dal Forno's combined annual production across all three wines runs to roughly 5,000 cases,² a figure that makes every visit request compete with little wine. Quintarelli wines are always small in allocation, high in demand, and difficult to find even for devoted wine lovers.³

For you, the useful conclusion is blunt: start with bottles, not a visit request. The waiting list for allocations stretches years at the merchant level, let alone at the cellar door. Dal Forno's Amarone is aged 24 months in new barriques, then a further 36 months in bottle before release,⁴ a five-year minimum from harvest to market, arriving in small tranches that disappear within days at specialist retailers. Quintarelli's wines, including the Alzero, a Cabernet Franc-based cuvée that sits outside the Amarone appellation entirely, are similarly rationed. Quintarelli releases wines only when they are ready, never before.⁵ When bottles are this scarce, the family has no commercial incentive to host strangers; every hour spent on a tasting is an hour away from the vineyard.

The crowd competing for the same access is not casual tourists. It is importers, long-standing restaurant accounts, and collectors who have been buying for a decade. Quintarelli's importers were not taken on until they had tasted with Giuseppe personally and been seen to appreciate the wines,⁶ a standard that filtered the trade relationship from the start, and that the family has maintained since.

When to Request a Quintarelli or Dal Forno Visit

Do not anchor flights around an assumed appointment. For Dal Forno specifically, there is no announcement calendar, no planned release date, and no market strategy communicated publicly.⁷ Confirming any specific timing directly with each estate before planning travel is essential.

What can be said from the pattern of how Italian family estates of this type operate: harvest, late September through November in Valpolicella, with the appassimento drying period running into December, is the worst possible time to request access. The family is working. Spring, April and May, is historically when small Italian producers are more receptive to merchant-arranged visits, after the bottling season and before the summer heat. Treat it as a guide rather than a guarantee. Do not plan a trip to Negrar or Illasi around an assumed spring window without a confirmed appointment in hand.

For allocations specifically: Dal Forno's releases reach the UK and US markets through a small number of specialist importers. In the UK, Berry Bros. & Rudd and Armit Wines have historically carried Dal Forno; in the US, Wilson Daniels handles the import. Quintarelli's UK importer has historically been Enotria&Coe. Contacting these importers directly, and asking to be placed on a notification list, is one reliable route to bottles, and occasionally to a producer visit arranged through the trade relationship.

The Booking Channels That Actually Work

There is no Resy page. There is no mailing list signup. There is no en primeur offer on a merchant's website with a "join the allocation" button. The access surface for both estates is relationship-driven, so begin with the channel where you already have credibility.

1. Through your specialist importer or merchant. If you have a long-standing account with a merchant who carries either wine, ask them directly whether they can facilitate a visit. This works occasionally, not reliably, but occasionally. To obtain Quintarelli wines through the US importer Robert Chadderdon, a retailer had to take a selection across the portfolio just to secure a few cases,⁸ so the merchant's relationship with the estate is the asset you are drawing on.

2. Through a specialist Italian wine tour operator. A small number of operators, Cellar Tours and similar, have built trade-adjacent relationships with Valpolicella producers. They will not guarantee Quintarelli or Dal Forno, and any operator who does guarantee it should be treated with scepticism. But they can sometimes arrange access that a cold email cannot.

3. Direct contact, in Italian, by letter or phone. This is a long shot, but it is not zero. Quintarelli insisted on tasting his wines with potential importers before striking any deals,⁹ a reminder that the estate responds to human connection, not commercial requests. A handwritten letter in Italian, addressed to Fiorenza Quintarelli or to Romano Dal Forno personally, explaining who you are and why you want to visit, not what you want to buy, has a better chance than an email.

4. Secondary market and auction. For bottles rather than visits: Christie's, Sotheby's Wine, and Acker Merrall & Condit regularly carry both producers at auction. Quintarelli Amarone Riserva Classico averages $969 per bottle across 61 lots sold at auction,¹⁰ so the secondary market is reliable, if not inexpensive.

How to Improve Your Odds Without Wasting a Trip

Build the merchant relationship first. If you are not already a regular buyer of Quintarelli or Dal Forno through a specialist retailer, start there. Buy the more accessible wines, around €64 a bottle at Superiore.de,⁵ or around €99 a bottle at Superiore.de,⁷ before asking for the Amarone allocation or the visit. Estates notice when a buyer has been consistent over years; they notice when someone appears only when the flagship is available.

Time your request for late winter or early spring, after the harvest and appassimento cycle has closed. Frame any visit request around the estate's work, the drying lofts, the blend decisions, the vineyard, rather than around tasting finished wine. These are producers who care about the process; showing that you understand it changes the register of the conversation.

If you are travelling to Valpolicella regardless, build the trip around producers who do welcome visitors, Allegrini, Masi, Tedeschi, and treat any Quintarelli or Dal Forno access as a bonus rather than the anchor.

Valpolicella Producers to Book Instead

Allegrini, Fumane. The La Grola and Amarone della Valpolicella Classico from Allegrini sit in a different register from Quintarelli, more polished, more immediately accessible, but the estate welcomes visitors and the wines are serious. The La Poja, a single-vineyard Corvina, is worth the detour on its own.

Masi Agricola, Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella. Masi's Costasera Amarone and the Campolongo di Torbe single-vineyard bottling offer a window into the appellation's range. The estate runs a proper visitor centre and is especially logistically manageable entry point into Valpolicella wine tourism.

Tedeschi, Pedemonte. A family estate with genuine depth, the Capitel Monte Olmi Amarone is a consistent benchmark, and a willingness to receive visitors by appointment that Quintarelli and Dal Forno do not share. The Tedeschi family has been farming in Valpolicella since 1630; the conversation in the cellar reflects that continuity.

Bertani, Grezzana. For collectors interested in aged Amarone, Bertani's library releases offer something genuinely rare: the chance to taste Amarone with two or three decades of bottle age at the cellar door. Confirm availability directly with Bertani before visiting. Visits are by appointment.

Who Should Chase This, and When

If you are a collector who already buys Amarone seriously and has a merchant relationship in place, the effort of pursuing a Quintarelli or Dal Forno visit is proportionate to the reward. These are two of the handful of Italian estates where the cellar visit genuinely changes how you understand the wine, not because the hospitality is polished, but because the process is so visible and so unusual.

If you are planning a first trip to Valpolicella and want a reliable, enriching experience, build the itinerary around Allegrini, Masi, and Tedeschi, and treat Quintarelli and Dal Forno as aspirational additions. A trip anchored on two closed doors is a trip that will spend most of its time in a car park in Negrar.

The seasonal logic is clear enough for planning: spring visits, April and May, are one realistic window, after the harvest cycle closes and before summer. Harvest itself, September through December, is when both estates are least likely to receive anyone. Plan accordingly, but confirm before you book flights.