A megastar at an affordable price

published 19 February 2010

2006 Palazzo della Torre, Allegrini, Veneto, Italy (£14.99, Roberson Wine, 020-7371 2121; Connolly's Wine, 0121-236 9269; Valvona & Crolla, 0131-556 6066; www.harperwells.com ; Corks of Cotham, 0117-973 1620).

Allegrini is a megastar in the Veneto region of northern Italy.

This is a name to look out for on wine lists because the wines from this noble estate start with an inexpensive 2008 Valpolicella, which never disappoints, and heads all of the way up to the knockout, super-cuve 2004 La Poja and a 2005 Amarone, which is among the finest of its kind on the planet.

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Now, you will have to drop £100 in a restaurant for these two, so how do you get a decent slice of the majesty of this estate, but for a much more affordable price tag?

Pallazo della Torre (a ripasso technique Valpol which gathers extra density from being passed over dried grapes and refermented) is a stunner, with more than a nod to its two stellar colleagues.

You will find it on many of the UK's top Italian lists at around the £40 mark, however it really hits the spot at £15 from the above wine merchants.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year.

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.