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If you thought all of Italy was dominated by sunlight and warm climate, think again. Though certainly not the coolest wine-growing region in all of Europe, Verona rests on a distinctly cool plain of fertile land abreast the dumping grounds of the Po river, the same river that upstream bisects Barbaresco and Barolo growing areas, on its way through the town of Alba. In fact, the name Valpolicella, can literally be translated from latin, to Valley of Alluvium; which should give you an indication as to what type of soil predominates here.
Valpolicella has been producing wines since the fifteenth century, when the Ottoman Empire blockaded the ports of Venice, in an attempt to enforce law upon the citizens of Verona and the surrounding areas. Importers began to look west towards the river Po, and with heavy handed investment from the mercantile estates of medieval Verona, new winegrowers developed methodologies over centuries to keep the wines suitable for clientele in the major Venetian states.
This region to the east of the lake Garda is known as Valpolicella, and there are several distinct styles of wine made here, from sweet to dry - but always carrying the same distinct aromas of sour cherry and fennel. Their distinctly non-cool climate in their wight as well, the vast majority of incredible wines produced in Valpolicella are thick, full-bodied reds of incredible power, and dark red color. Traditionally, Valpolicella is known for a red sweet wine called Recioto; a name which is derived from the method used to make it, called appassimento.
Wines from Valpolicella are made of a blend of grapes, namely the stately Corvina, master of the blend, and by far the most appealing in flavor. It gives wines rich, round mouthfeel, fruity flavor and ripens to intense sugar levels. This grape has plenty of natural acidity as well, but its fruit, nuance and delicate balance make it the most prized of any blend. In fact, throughout the Valpolicella growing area, it is mandated to make up at least forty-five percent of the blend, lest it can be supplemented for Corvinone.
The second most common grape varietal used in Recioto, and the wines of Valpolicella, is called Corvinone; a very delightful red wine grape of particular note as it is becoming a far more popular grape in the blends today. This grape is more lush, with blue fruit flavors, and a little less acidity, but overall a delightfully aromatic grape that adds floral and red fruit character to the blends. The grape was thought to be a mutation of Corvina until 1993, when it was established that the pair are unrelated.
Rondinella is also used, this grape is higher in acid, yet delivers nice consistency to a blend and is higher yielding than the other two grapes, so it makes an excellent blending grape. Molinara, whose plantings have been significantly depleted, is experiencing a bit of a fashion crisis. Molinara has been identified as overly acetic and often struggles to ripen in some cooler years, leading to an inky, overly volatile flavor in blended wines. Thus, producers have begun to cut back their usage of this higher-yielding, easier to plant grape indefinitely, and replaced it much in part with Corvinone. The law has even been changed as recently as 2003, to allow producers to skip Molinara in the blend altogether.
Appassimento is the act of raisinating the grapes on straw mats, after having picked them as late-stage sugars are developing. This is needed to be done in very dry climates, and measures need to be taken in order to prevent rot. One such measure, is the frequent usage of fans in the elevated attics and warehouses used to dry the grapes, to keep dry air circulating. Grapes are laid out on straw mats, or, as was traditional with Vin Santo, holy wine, in Montepulciano and other areas; hung from rafters in dry attics, with a lot of airflow.
Here, unlike the cool-climate sweet wines of Sauternes or Tokaji, Botrytis Cinerea is actively discouraged from developing its walloping caramel and damp rag flavors in this wine. Appassimento, the drying method, increases the concentration of the sugars and acid in the grapes by evacuating water prior to fermentation. Grapes can be rested from anywhere between two to six weeks on the straw mats to concentrate their sugars before they ever get to be pressed into wine.
Valpolicella Recioto, thus, has its own unique flavors when it comes to comparing it to other regional sweet wines. These red wines are unique in color, and will usually be a deep black with a red rim and smell of plums, and pomegranates. The hairspray-like aromas and wafting sour red cherry and red apple flavors that are frequently observed in all wines from Valpolicella can be adequately attributed to volatile acidity, which is a result of the appassimento method - when grapes are concentrated, acids will be high, after the fermentation, oxygen exposure sets in and the wines acidosis begins to change magic acid into acetic acid.
One incredible example is from winemaking family Tommasi, their Fiorato Recioto is on eof the prime examples of what these wines should be. Expressions of rich raisin and prune dominate the palette with dark chocolate, pistaccio and almonds as a compliment. The wines have a very beautiful balance to them and certainly do not get soupy on the tongue. There are some hints of nutmeg, almond and blackcurrant as well, with cranberry like acidity, and a sweet finish. This is a good wine for Chocolate dessert.
Recioto, like any sweet wine will have very high acidity in order to balance well with the weight added by sugar, and the appassimento method provides enough to allow this wine to glide gracefully over the palette and hold nuance in a very expressive way. The syrupy red-currant flavors are an adequate compliment to stilton and, of course, gorgonzola - through traditionally these wines are served with biscotti, and baked treats, such as flourless chocolate cake.
With possibly more clout than Recioto, is the bold, brash, and expressive powerhouse of a wine, Amarone della Valpolicella - the best examples of which are specifically produced on the higher-hillsides inland from Bardolino. It’s also the wine that miraculously stole the world spotlight in the nineteen eighties, when Masi began pressing out large quantities of this very dry, bold, red, some consider uncharacteristic of a cool-climate like the one around Verona. Amarone is the wine that earned Valpolicella the nickname, “Pearl of Verona.”
This style originally showed up roughly somewhere around nineteen-fifty, before the world had even developed a taste for the dry red table wines we are so accustomed to today. It’s far from old, albeit har arrived on the seen as a sort of tribute to a rediscovered old process for winemaking. This involved the use of a hybrid strain of yeast, found naturally only on some grape skins, known as Uvarum.
Winemakers would inoculate their grapes with the strain which is capable of surviving alcohol levels exceeding sixteen percent. Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella grapes are hung in the rafter of a loft, or these days, warehouse, for some time to become raisins, and then the juice is then pressed off the skins and fermented, just as with Recioto.
Because of this lengthy winemaking process, These dry style wines require ample sunlight, as much so as recioto, and they must be placed on the south-facing slopes to achieve adequate ripening. They are picked later in the season and risk all of the usual molds and frosts of typical cold-climate regions like Burgundy, so biodynamic and organic processes are a challenging order here to say the least.
However difficult, tons of producers manage to achieve the ripeness necessary, perhaps with use of gyroscopic circulation from a helicopter, or a bit of Bordeaux mixture here and there. They then blindside consumers with these powerful, elating, and perfumed reds from this incredible strip of vineyards. Amarone vineyards are often the very last to be picked due to their need for high concentration of sugars, and the amount of time needed to fully ripen.
Amarone really took off as a wine icon during the advent of the Baltimore Wine Advocate, and Robert Parker who began to propel the region into fame along side the trendy Cabernet-growing wine regions of the time and fashion for bold, overripe wines. It wasn’t until the early oughts that grower’s began to refine their style, and hone in more on the nuance of their wines - things like minerality, balance and texture really began to come into focus, and with that a renewed focus on the varietals used in wine blends. By this time, a whopping percentage of vines in the Valpolicella area were serviceable for Amarone, more vineyard space even than was intended for manufacture of the regions table wines.
Winemakers are not finished once they’ve finally fermented the Amarone to its whopping sixteen percent alcohol, they must also select the right wood to age it in. Traditionally this was Slavonian or Croatian oak, but in the latter years of its fame, both French and American oak were experimented by vast amounts of producers in the Valpolicella area, to marginal successes. Today, producers mainly use the old Slavonian oak botti, though many different barrel styles are used throughout the region even today. By DOCG rules, these wines must be aged a minimum of two years. Riserva is the upgrade category requiring at least four years in oak, and reach alcohol levels of fourteen percent. Nowadays these wines are seeing way higher ABV percentages than in the past.
As Amarone has fallen further and further out of favor with consumers, we see new pioneers moving into the area. Mostly a younger generation interested in local varietals, smaller yields than before, and creating a fine product from their terroir - as fertile and vigorous as it is. The new Valpolicella is an exciting place for Amarone - we are seeing a lot of wineries experimenting with natural wines, unfiltered and even some truly incredible sustainable producers.
Musella is a biodynamic producer making fine wines from the Classico zone with a hegemony towards wines of authenticity and power. The Valpolicella Riserva, aged in oak the allotted four years, boast harmonic flavors of hazelnuts, chocolate, and cedar and pumpernickel read. These incredible harmonies are acompanied by a melody of youthful ripe red fruit, a touch of cranberry, and of course the requisite plum, raisin and even prune. Fresh fennel and Tobacco nuances are woven throughout and the wine boasts a nice core of minerality which comes as hints of inorganic wet stone.
At the same point in 2009, both Recioto and Amarone received their DOCG’s each for nearly identical sub-zones, and most houses in the Valpolicella area offer some version of these two incredible wines. They will also offer the relatively recent DOC, or Valpolicella Ripasso, or repassed wine. These wines offer a taster of Amarone, for a fraction of the cost, and are drinkable now, with no further afghan required, where Amarone may require a few such years to really acquire all of its nuance.
Valpolicella Ripasso is made by experienced Amarone producers using the leftover macerated skins and pips from the Amarone and Recioto-making process, and adding it to regular Valpolicella DOC wine, which is made without the appassimento method. This releases some of the remaining sugars left in the skins and breathed new life into the lighter Valpolicella wine. People sometimes refer to these Ripasso wines as a baby Amarone.
They have raisin-like flavor characteristics like Amarone, but make a wine which is lighter and easier to drink with less tannin and often more coherent acidity levels that make the wines less filling to enjoy, and good for fatty cheeses. Amarone can be one of those wines which is made quite soupy by a high-fat soup, meat, veg or cheese. Ripasso is an excellent food wine to pair with just about anything.
The standard Valpolicella wine is made from the same grapes as the much heartier brothers: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, and Molinara, but is often the lightest in style. Valpolicella is made almost through the region, and most reputable producers in Valpolicella have offerings of each one of the styles mentioned, but often, Valpolicella, the base wine, is generally not afforded the plots that Amarone is, and this is a shame, because it actually has the potential in some cases to be just as fine a wine as the more expensive variations.
There are several different demarcated regions around Valpolicella notably producing slightly different styles of all four of these wines. The Classico sub-zone is the most prized terroir of any of the three variations. Classico borders on the region of Bardolino, near lake Garda, and has more warming influence from the lake, helping grapes to achieve better ripening.
Classico also has the most rolling hills and highest inclines. These are necessary for Amarone because the wine requires attention from the sun on south-facing slopes with higher elevations, and diurnal shift to extend ripening as long a possible. Unfortunately, when dry wines had fallen from fashion, and grape growing became a largely unprofitable business, a lot of these harder-to-work, less arable and fertile slopes began to become abandoned, and were no longer used to produce wine.
Producers struggled to afford the labor required to harvest and maintain grapes here, so the land fell into disuse. When tastes favored bold, dry wines again sometime around the seventies and eighties, slowly a new subset quality-minded winemakers moved back into these slopes slowly but surely, many of them families who desired to tend the vineyards themselves. The difficulty of farming these areas, means again that one essentially has to orient themselves toward quality over bulk quantity. While the migration back to the hills east of Bardolino around the lake has been a steady one, it seems to be paying off.
Valpolicella Classico is by far the most celebrated area, due to the aforementioned reasons - but it is a small area made up of only seven communes to the east of Lake Garda. They are Pescatina, known for its power and complexity; San Pietro in Cariano known for its alluvial fertile soils, and wines of restrained structure; Negrar, the more mineralic of the Classico communes with its lower water table and marled soils; Fumane, the most approachable of the communes, a stellar area of muscular blends and driven young producers; Sant’Amrogio di Valpolicella, the tallest and most dynamic range of wines are made here; and, Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo, producing wines made in alluvial clay, with finesse and perfume that is incomparable.
Just to the east of the Classico area, is the Valpantena area - a region that is known for more reserved, and acetic wines, with an increased focus on nuance and aroma. It is named after a late century Roman pantheon construction which sits in the middle of the landscape of vines. This area is more of a blossoming newer addition to Valpolicella, and sommeliers seek it out, as due aspiring young winemakers looking to crack their teeth on excellent terroir.
Valpantena includes all of the far most hills of Valpolicella that surround the town of Grezzana, and is home to Amarone DOCG, as well as the other styles, though, obviously this area falls outside the borders of the Classico zone, many producers use the Superiore when the wines indicated exceed eleven percent alcohol. Superiore indicates that the wine was aged in oak for at least a year. This can help add desirable secondary characteristics to the wines. What this area lacks in some of the topographical advantages of Valpolicella Classico, it makes up for in restrained wines of character and even balance.
One notable house producing wines under the name of this region is the major grower Bertani, whose celebrated Valpolicella wines are never a letdown, especially this incredible Amarone, Valpantena. This is an incredibly easy drinking wine with subtleties of anise, cedar, black raisin and bright tart cherry. The wine is lingering with expressions of stewed blackberry, purple plum and even some white pepper on the nose. This is a very complex and interesting wine from Valpantena, and certainly exhibits all of the character of the region. If you’re ever looking for a great bottle to enjoy over a hearty Italian meal with company, this would be a top contender.
The last region is the east of Valpolicella, sometimes referred to as the Orientale, or Est this is the more fertile region of alluvial deposition which hosts the majority of wineries, and the bulk of Valpolicella wine - its also the easiest area too work, least dangerous and most prone to host bulk producers. Just because the soils are more fertile does not necessarily mean that the wines are not as good, they just host a heartier, and more virile vine, and canopy management can be a crucial factor in the successes of a fine wine grown here. Wines from here tend to throw herbal hints of oregano and often rosemary, a bit like the garrique of France, They are excellent food wines, and often can be found at prices up to fifteen dollars less per bottle.
That's All,
~K