Mark: I applaud you on both your fondness for Valpolicella, Amarone, and Ripasso, and for your choice of the Verona area. Boy, are you gonna have fun.
I won't recco specific wineries, although I will highly, highly recco visiting the small town of Fumane in Valpolicella. And specifically to visit the Enoteca della Valpolicella. You'll find the info here.
http://www.valpolicella.itThe Enoteca is a small but fascinating place, and you'll think you died and went to Valpolicella heaven when you go there. Very welcoming and hospitable, it's a shop, a restaurant, a museum of sorts, and a paean to all things Valpolicella. They have a collection there that will boggle your mind---things you've probably never seen before.
And a big plus in my book is that their restaurant is based primarily on local cuisine and locally-sourced foods. Had a very pleasant lunch there (accompanied by some remarkable available-locally-only Valpolicella wines).
Verona itself is a highlight (Make sure you allow time to sit quietly and happily in the Piazza della Erbe and watch the passiagati with a glass of Amarone in hand!) But if you're venturing out (and you should) then Sant' Ambrogio is a good place to go, along with the entire valley of the Negrar (which, to me personally, has always been the "heart" of what I love about Valpolicella---but that's just me).
Also, for contrast,and because it's fun, take a few extra minutes and go over to Bardolino on the lake. Beautiful little lakeside village (but sometimes overrun with tourist, of course) where the ferry boats come in and out. Decent little shopping area and a handful of little cafes and ristoranti right on the lake shore, with beautiful scenery if you're there on the right day. And the bluffs overlooking Bardolino have some wineries you can visit. The Bardolino wines are a good contrast to Valpolicella in that the same basic grape varieties dominate....but with the difference in place and style, the wines can be extremely different!
