May 2022
When I first started in the wine industry, Amarone was one of my first loves. It is a process driven wine with a great story to tell. Wine has been made here since Roman times when it was called “Retico” these wines were also made by air drying grapes.
When visiting Venice it is an easy drive to these wineries so that is what we did. Staying near the city of Verona, a city made famous by the Shakespeare play, we drove to Cesari in Fumane. This winery was a bit unique. The facility we visited was called “Appassimento e Vinificazione” this is where the grapes are dried and the wine is fermented. There is another facility that conducts the aging of these wines.
Maria Francesca Bernardi met my friend and I at the door of the winery. We began with a tour of the cellar, which is always a favorite of mine. The winery in Fumane was state of the art and so clean you could eat off the floors. There were glittering stainless steel tanks lined up neatly on a tile floor. To understand the wines of Valpolicella you must understand how they are all made.
There are four different appellations found here in Valpolicella: Valpolicella DOC, Valpolicella Ripasso DOC, Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG, Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG.
Valpolicella is a red blend. Corvina is the work horse of the blend but must not be 100% of the balance. This grape needs to be between 45-95% of the wine and it is considered the superior grape varietal of Valpolicella. Corvinone was thought to be a phenotype of Corvina, but it is an independent grape variety. It has larger berries than Corvina and adds, spicy, color and tannin to the blend. Rondinella is also used in the blend and is a high yielding grape with medium
body and good acidity. It is rarely seen as a varietal, just part of the blend in Valpolicella and Bardolino. Molinara was one of the core grape varieties until 2003. It is now thought of as a lesser grape variety however some producers prefer to use this grape to add lightness and freshness. The Valpolicella DOC is made like any other traditional red wine, remaining in contact with the skins throughout the fermentation process which lasts about 10 days. The wine ages in Stainless steel and is bottled early to maintain its freshness. This wine is a much lighter
style wine.
The Amarone DOCG goes through the appassimento method. The grapes are hand-picked and then they are placed in a massive temperature and humidity controlled room at the winery in Fumane called a “fruttai.” These grapes are picked 1-2 weeks earlier than the grapes for Valpolicella and only the best grapes are used. It is important to avoid mold and rot, so the grapes must be closely monitored. They will remain here until December at which point, they will have lost 30% of their weight. This concentrates the sugars in the grapes. The resulting wine is higher in alcohol, reaching 15% abv with concentrated fruit flavors and higher tannin. This wine remains 20-30 days on the skins during fermentation and it is fermented dry. Once pressed the wine is aged in a combination of large format Slavonian oak and small French oak casks, barriques and tonneaux.
Recioto Wines are also made using the appassimento method. This is where Amarone was born. It dates back to Roman times and is a dessert wine with 100 g/l residual sugar. The process is that same as Amarone except the grapes continue to dry until February. This concetrates the sugar even further. The grapes remain in contact with the fermenting juice for 20-30 days and once pressed this wine is also aged in tonneaux and barrique. As legend has it, a barrel of Recioto wine was left in the cellar and forgotten, the resulting wine consumed all the sugar resulting in a dry wine. Bertani claims they were the first to have made this wine but a few others claim this as well. The finished wine was named after the word “Amaro” which means bitter.
That leaves us with Valpolicella Ripasso DOC. Once the Amarone and Recioto have completed fermentation the wine is drained from the skins, leaving behind a sugar and alcohol rich grape pumace. They reconstitute these grapes with the fresh Valpolicella wine made from the past vintage. Ripasso means “re-pass” or “go over again,” this wine style got its own DOC in 2007. This was a wine that dates to the mezzadria system (sharecropping), they would waste nothing including the used grapes. The resulting wine is given additional spice and body from the Amarone skins. I call this wine a baby Amarone.
Cesari gives you several tasting experience options, but I highly recommend including the single vineyard Amarones. They have four Amarones to try and it is tremendous to see them side by side. The Bosan Vineyard located in the hills of Marano is rich and expressive and worth additional cost. I bought one or two to take home with me.
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