VERSATILITY OF THE VINE
A taste for Valpolicella
Much like Chi anti, Chablis, Bordeaux and Bur gun dy, Val policella is one of the wine world’s best- known re gions. But I know that for many, Val poli cella brings forth mem ories of rath er di lut ed, high ly acid ic and cheap wine.
It never came in a wick er basket like Chi anti, but I bet it was a pretty big sell er at the Spa ghetti Warehouse back in the day.
For those of you who have left Val poli cella for big ger, more “ser ious” wines, you should take an other look. Not only has Valpolicella Classico improved, but the re gion does pro duce some pretty ro bust wines — Amar one in par ticu lar. I know many fans of Amar one who don’t even re al ize it’s a type of Val poli cella.
At the end of Janu ary, I at tended the Anteprima Amarone. In vit ed by the Consorzio Val poli cella, along side wine journal ists from around the world, we tast ed more than 100 wines from the 2012 vin tage. While the vast majority of Amarones available at the SAQ are from 2011, we are starting to see this latest vin tage ap pear on the shelves.
Even at four years of age, these were very “young ” wines. Most people drink these wines young and power ful. I tend to like them over 10 years of age. I have been for tun ate enough to taste Amarones that were up to 50 years old, and their age- worth i ness is quite ex cep tion al. An aged Amar one is what I im agine a vin tage port would be if it had very lit tle or no sug ar in it — in tense dark fruit, lots of spice, lay ered and fi nessed tan nin. They can be su preme ly ele gant.
The Val poli cella re gion as a whole is unique. I don’t know of any other re gion where the same grapes pro duce so many styles of wine. There is the Val poli cella Clas si co, which I often refer to as the Beau jo lais equiva lent in Italy. Amar one della Val poli cella is made with dried grapes and vinified to vary ing de grees of dry ness. Then there is the Recioto, which, like an Amar one, is made with dried grapes, but the fer men tation is stopped be fore all the sugar is turned into al co hol, cre at ing a sweet red wine.
There is a fourth style, the ripasso, which falls be tween the fruity Val poli cella and the Amar one. De pending on who is mak ing it, the style can lean more to ward the fruit or the pow er of the Amar one.
There are three main grapes in Val poli cella. Corvina brings struc ture and more com plex fla vours; rondinella is used to en hance the bou quet and fruit; and molinara the acid ity. Other grapes al lowed in clude rossignola, negrara, bar ber a and sangiovese. Corvina must represent a min imum of 40 per cent of the final blend, though it can make up to 70 per cent.
As I men tioned, Val poli cella is not a sin gu lar style of wine. So while the grapes may re main the same, how they are vini fied will com plete ly change their charac ter. The re sults are dif er ent styles of wine, each with its own par ticu lar taste pro file.
VALPOLICE LLA CLASSICO ANDSUPERIOR E
This is the starting point for Valpoli cella, and the style that most people associate with the region’ s wines. The wines are gen er al ly light, with very little tannin, and rare ly oaked. This can be murky territory, as quality can range from awe some to poor. The challenge is not to find a Val poli cella, but to find a good one.
To start, look for “Clas sico” on the label. It sig ni fies the wine comes from the original production zone, prior to the 1968 ex pan sion. While Clas si co wines must have at least 11 per cent al co hol, Clas si co Superiore wines must be a minimum of 12 per cent and be aged one year before being put on the market. While some producers are ex peri menting with oak, most of the wines don’t see the in side of a barrel, thus preserving their delicate floral aromas, fruitiness and fresh acidity.
AMAR ONE AND REC IO TO
The best grapes are des tined for a pro cess called “appassimento,” which pro du ces two of the re gion’s most power ful and age- worthy wines: Amar one and Recioto.
Appassimento is a tech nique where by whole bunch es of grapes are left to dry for up to four months. They can lose up to 40 per cent of their ori gin al weight, which con cen trates the sug ars and tan nins. The “rai sins” are pressed, fer ment ed and aged in bar rels.
This process was originally done to pro duce a sweet wine, the Recioto. But occasionally the wines fermented completely dry, producing a high-alcohol, often very tan nic wine. This is the Amar one, which means “big bitter one .” The high alcohol is due to the higher concentration of sugar in the juice at the start of fer men ta tion, and these wines can easily approach 16 percent.
So while A mar one was an accident at first, it has become the driving force in terms of quality of the appellation. In 2009, it received DOCG status, which is the highest quality level a winemaking region can attain.
RIP ASSO, THE IN-BETWEEN WINE
After the A mar one is fermented and transferred to barrels for ag ing, the resulting must( the mixture of unpressed grape skins, seeds and branch es found at the bottom of the fermenting tank) is re cycled and used again in a process called“ripasso.” Ripasso means“re passed” and refers to a technique of adding Val police ll a wine to the must of the A marone, and a second fermentation begins, adding more complex flavours, tannin and body to the wine. These wines, la bel led as “ripassa” or“ripassata,” combine the fruit and freshness of Valpolice ll a with the complexity and body of an Amar one.
While I was there to taste the Amar one, I left the Anteprima Amar one won der ing about Val poli cella Clas si co. There is no denying the grand eur of A mar one, but there is a serious price tag as so ci at ed with it. This makes sense, be cause when you dry grapes, you are left with much less juice, and thus the wines have to be more ex pensive.
But I tasted wines from a number of producers whoa restarting to put mo ree fort into their Val poli cella Clas si co. For me, this is the future, as more and more people are looking for lighter- alcohol and more refreshing wines. Val poli cella is ideal ly suit ed to take a chunk of this market.
Some fabu lou st er roi rex is ts for the corvina grape, and I would love to see Val poli cella Crus akin to Morgon, for ex ample, in Beau jo lais. So in stead of using all the best grapes for Amar one, start giving some love to Valpolice ll aC las si co Superior ea nd interesting wines that are based on fines se and fruit, rather than sheer pow er.