Allegrini La Poja, IGT 2016 - 300cl
Three litres of it — this is La Poja in double magnum, a format built for the kind of dinner you remember. And it's a serious wine to fill it. La Poja was the world's first single-vineyard 100% Corvina, first bottled by Franco Allegrini in 1983 from a triangular, limestone-white plot at the very top of the La Grola hill in Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella. Two and a bit hectares, all Corvina, trained on Guyot rather than the old pergola.
Here's the thing people get wrong: this is not Amarone. There's no drying of the grapes, no sweetness — the "graspo rosso" clone ripens fully on the vine, ten days later than the neighbouring La Grola, so Allegrini can make a dry, structured red from fresh fruit alone. Think of it as Corvina given the single-vineyard, fine-wine treatment it rarely gets. The 2016 vintage in Veneto was cool and long, an excellent year that gave freshness and detail.
The ageing is ambitious — twenty months in new Allier barriques, eight more in large Slavonian casks, then the better part of a year settling in bottle. Expect a deep, brooding red: raspberry and black cherry over cracked black pepper, cocoa, clove and a savoury, almost curry-spice lift. The palate is dense but graceful, tannins firm and fine, acidity holding it all upright through a long, spiced finish. In magnum it will age slower and steadier still.
Save it for a crowd and a long lunch — a bottle this size is an event in itself.
How to Serve
Serve at 17-18°C in large bowls. A double magnum demands a proper decant — pour it off well ahead, up to two hours, both to aerate a wine still in its youth and to leave any sediment behind. Give yourself a steady hand and a wide decanter; three litres is a lot to move.
Where to Drink It
The River Cafe in Hammersmith, whose Italian kitchen and big-format culture were made for a bottle like this. Brat in Shoreditch, for the wood grill against all that spice and structure. The Wolseley on Piccadilly, if the occasion is a grand, unhurried lunch for the table.
Food Pairings
A charcoal-grilled côte de boeuf for the table is the move — enough char and fat to meet the pepper and firm tannin. Failing that, a slow-cooked venison ragù over wide pasta.
