Nearly two years after Italy’s influential Allegrini wine family split up its holdings, Marilisa Allegrini—once the family’s globetrotting ambassador and company president—seems to be having a ball with her own smaller, eponymous wine company and estates.
“I always liked the creative part of building a company,” says Marilisa, 71, at her headquarters and boutique hotel, the Renaissance-era Villa Della Torre, northwest of Verona. “I don’t have the energy I had when I started 42 years ago, but I am still working with excitement, and I’m still travelling.”
When the Allegrini family divided its interests at the end of 2023, the majority of the Allegrini estate in Valpolicella (including the value-priced négociant label Corte Giara) was bought out by Allegrini’s three 30-something nephews and niece. They are led by Francesco Allegrini, son of winemaker Franco Allegrini (one of two brothers of Marilisa), who died in 2022.
Marilisa formed a new company, run with her daughters Carlotta, 36, and Caterina, 33, as well as their father, Giancarlo Mastella. Marilisa kept the Villa Della Torre in Valpolicella, including all of its estate vineyards, as well as two highly noted Tuscan estates that she had largely developed: Poggio al Tesoro in Bolgheri and Poggio San Polo in Montalcino.
Villa Della Torre CEO Andrea Lonardi has expanded the winery’s line with Soave and Valpolicella made from grapes purchased from old-vine sites. (Robert Camuto)
This fall has been a busy time for Marilisa. She is preparing for the U.S. debut of Villa Della Torre this month. The expanded line of fresh, energetic wines has been shaped largely by CEO Andrea Lonardi, a stylistically edgy Master of Wine and enologist who formerly worked at Bertani Domains.
In October, she was at the New York Wine Experience Grand Tastings as usual, this time introducing event guests to Poggio al Tesoro. That estate, which makes reds from Bordeaux varieties, as well as whites such as Vermentino, is in the midst of a construction project: a new luxury boutique hotel and wine visitor center amid the vineyards. But Marilisa says, “I’m having fun … It’s exciting to be dealing in three zones of wine production. Of course, I have the knowledge I didn’t have 40 years ago.”
In the town of Fumane, Villa Della Torre, a sprawling villa modeled after a prosperous ancient Roman domus, has been owned by Marilisa since 2008 and houses a small luxury hotel. The wine line, principally destined for guests, started small in 2019 with Valpolicella Superiore and Amarone reds made from seven acres that Marilisa personally owned around the villa, as well as a Lugana white from vineyards near Lake Garda. With the family company division, Marilisa expanded her vineyard holdings to include all 25 acres classified for Valpolicella and Amarone within the estate’s walls.
Marilisa Allegrini has brought her daughters Carlotta, left, and Caterina, right, into the business, along with their father, Giancarlo Mastella. (Robert Camuto)
Always on the elegant side, the reds emphasized the two main grapes of Valpolicella and Amarone wines—Corvina and Corvinone.
In summer 2024, when it came time to bottle the vintage 2021 Amarone and 2022 Valpolicella Superiore, Lonardi insisted on pushing the wines further, making what he calls a “very strict selection” of about 20 percent of the most elegant lots in barrel to create the final blend.
The results are on the cutting edge for these Valpolicella-area categories, which have been moving away from wines with detectable residual sugars, dark color and high alcohol. Even the Amarone (a category made from partially raisined grapes) is ruby red, bone dry and long in the mouth. For me, a wine lover who prefers drinkability over power, this was good news for my palate.
“Italy has a red spine from Barolo to Valpolicella to Tuscany and Etna,” enthuses Lonardi. “Wines with beautiful color, cherry nose, lightness, tension and acidity without high alcohol.”
Marilisa, who now says she is happy with the wines, admits that she initially fretted about going so far in this direction. “A few months ago, it was not so easy,” she says and laughs. “We were calling Andrea and saying, ‘Are you sure? Are you really sure?’”
“We know this style of Amarone is a niche,” she adds. “For the consumer who likes Burgundy and Oregon Pinot Noir, they will like this Amarone.”
Villa Della Torre’s Valpolicella Superiore, left, and Amarone reds, right, have been refashioned to feel fresher and drier. (Robert Camuto)
Another of Lonardi’s moves was to expand the Villa Della Torre brand to a line of négociant wines from around Verona. Starting with the 2024 harvest, Lonardi convinced Marilisa to buy grapes (at twice the market rate) from old vineyards in select terroirs to create a pair of single-vineyard Soave whites and one high-altitude Valpolicella.
“Andrea told me, ‘You have to open your mind and look at Verona in the entire context,’” says Marilisa.
“It’s a modern way of being a négociant,” Lonardi explains. “The idea is to have contemporary wines that taste of place—all with an alcohol level at about 12.5 percent.” He adds that wines from the Marilisa Allegrini estates in Tuscany are also moving more in the direction of “drinkability and freshness.”
At Allegrini, Marilisa was known for putting on some of the Italian wine world’s most lavish and theatrical dinners and events. Though her budget is not as big as it once was, she is expanding hospitality and events at all her properties. Poggio al Tesoro’s new 10-room boutique wine hotel and separate visitor center is slated for a spring opening for the winery’s 25th anniversary.
“The idea is people will be able to make a ‘Grand Tour’ between Valpolicella and Tuscany,” says Caterina.
“I believe in wine tourism as the future,” says Marilisa. “Italy is not just a country with great agricultural products, including wine. In Italy, you can combine art, culture, history and experience in the wine context. It’s what makes Italy unique.”
Travel Tips
In the Valpolicella town of Fumane, Villa Della Torre has 10 luxury guest rooms. The “Art Rooms,” with period furnishing and artworks, are on the restored upper floor of the restored villa and named after historical figures. The “Wine Rooms” are located in a more rustic annex with a view of the vineyard and have exposed stone walls, marble floors, wooden trussed ceilings and four-poster beds. Learn more at https://www.villadellatorre.it/en/rooms.
In coastal Tuscany’s Bolgheri region, Poggio al Tesoro will also have 10 guests rooms and a separate new visitor center, both expected to open in spring 2026. In the meantime, a tasting area at its Sondraie vineyard offers a range of tours and tastings, from an introduction to four wines to a five-wine tasting that includes top bottlings. Get the details and book at https://www.poggioaltesoro.it/en/hospitality-poggio-al-tesoro.
Dining and Cooking