At the table with Piccoli: Valpolicella, stories and conviviality

Some evenings work because they do not need to be overplanned. Our 12 June dinner with Piccoli, part of the “A tavola con...” series, was one of those evenings: relaxed, generous, full of stories and glasses shared with curiosity.

Alice guided us through the story of her family and their winery, starting from Monte La Parte. Piccoli is a small Valpolicella estate, producing around 45,000 bottles, with a cellar built inside a former tuff quarry. Before wine became the centre of the story, that stone was part of the family business; today it has become a naturally cool underground cellar, deeply connected to the rock and the land around it.

More than the technical details, what stayed with us was the idea of a small winery looking for a clear expression of its territory. Wines that do not try to dominate the food, but accompany it with personality and balance.

We began with a small pan-baked leavened dish with aubergine parmigiana and smoked ricotta, paired with Zefiro, their Valpolicella: fresh, light and crisp. A chilled red wine with a pizza-style dish surprised many guests, and that was exactly the point: sometimes an unexpected pairing, when it is balanced, simply works.

Next came maccheroncini with oxtail ragù, a deep and generous dish built around the “quinto quarto”. The pairing with their Ripasso showed a less obvious side of this style: not only structure, but elegance, cleanliness and the ability to stay with the dish without weighing it down.

The main course moved between Puglia and Verona: bombette with Monte Veronese cheese, paired with Rocolo, a Valpolicella Superiore that nods to the Amarone method while keeping freshness and acidity. It was one of the most interesting matches of the evening.

Dessert was all about cherries: cherry tart with Adone, Piccoli’s Recioto della Valpolicella, recently recognised as a Slow Food Presidium. A soft, territorial ending, sweet but not tiring.

Then came Emblema, almost like one last story before saying goodbye: a meditation wine to sip slowly, leaving time for one more question and one more shared thought.

These are the evenings we love most: when the producer does not remain distant, but becomes part of the table. Wine becomes story, food becomes occasion, and guests feel part of the same conversation. Like being at home, like being among friends.