Dried grapes make quite a different kind of wine

I first encountered the appassimento style of winemaking on a visit to producers of Amarone in the Veneto region of Italy in the mid 1990s.

Back then, wineries that used this process, which consists of drying the grapes on huge trays for four months or thereabouts before pressing them for wine, were fairly primitive.

Large open-walled sheds contained the wooden palettes and the grapes were subject to the whimsy of rainy and chilly days of the Italian winter.

Nowadays, many wineries have created temperature controlled rooms where the grapes dry, closed off from the weather, and more immune to molds.

The current Vintages release features a flock of appassimento wines vinified from dried grapes, which slowly shrivel as they dry, much like raisins.

This concentrates colour, sugars and flavours.

At their best, such wines have great depth and complexity.

But often they result in reds that taste cooked, pruney, or full of dried dates, cherries and figgy flavours.

Some are reminiscent of port, as the alcohol can soar into the 15 per cent range. The grape drying craze in the last decade has gone global and Ontario is emerging as a leading producer of appassimento wines in North America. A pioneer in Niagara was Len Crispino, whose The Foreign Affair winery makes several variations. Another advocate is Burning Kiln Winery, whose 2011 Strip Room Merlot/Cabernet Franc (#327700, $24.95, 87+) is in this release. It’s the cooked style, with prunes, figs and dates dominating, resulting in a rather chunky, blueberry and leather accented red. Of the six Italian red appassimentos (including two sweet style ripassos) on tap in this Vintages release, my scores were equally low (mid 80s) for four, including two Amarones priced in the $45 range. They are not great value. My only high score went to Masi 2009 Grandarella (#606921, $25.95, 90+) with its violets, chocolate and blackberry depth. It’s significant that Masi uses international grape varieties, like a Super Tuscan, in this full flavoured red. In short, you may be better off sticking to my fully reviewed bottles shown with this column, each selected as best value (most under $20) from the 100-plus new wines at Vintages. stimmell@sympatico.ca