Vino's Wine
Director Charles Scicolone is traveling in Italy for the next few weeks,
tasting wines and meeting with some of our favorite producers. Please check
back soon for his Wine Opinion.
Although one of Italy's
most coveted and collected wines, Amarone della Valpolicella remains one of
the world's most misunderstood. Made primarily from Corvina, Rondinella, and
Molinara grapes (indigenous varieties grown exclusively in the Veneto), Amarone -- a
blended, dried-grape wine made in a dry style -- represents a unique
winemaking tradition in the panorama of Italian viticulture.
Before pressing, the grapes are dried on straw mats (see dried Corvina grapes
pictured right). The winemaker then vinifies each variety separately before
tasting and blending according to vintage characteristics to evoke the
estate's style.
Amarone is a remarkably powerful and long-lived wine and has been known to
age for upwards of 40 and 50 years if made properly and cellared well. It is
traditionally paired with hearty stews (in particular the famous pastissada, a horse-meal stew, a specialty of Verona).
The word Amarone comes from the Italian amaro
or "bitter." The first known reference to the wine as
"Amarone" dates back to the 1930s (Amarone appears on an invoice
for wine sent to a purchaser in Udine
in Friuli by the
Cantina Sociale della Valpolicella). Before its
appearance, Recioto, made similarly to Amarone but
in a sweet style, was the top wine of Valpolicella.
The term recioto comes from recia, Venetian dialect for "ear" (orecchia in Italian): the grapes used to make Recioto are taken from the "ears" of the vine,
in other words, the top bunches that enjoy the best exposure and become ripe
sooner than the others. For Recioto, fermentation
is stopped so that much of the sugar remains and a sweet wine is created.
Legend holds that an absent-minded winemaker in Valpolicella neglected his Recioto's fermentation, forgetting to stop it (in the
olden days, winemakers stopped fermentation by opening the cellar doors and
allowing cool air to enter). When he realized what had happened, fermentation
had completed, all of the sugar had been consumed by the yeast, and a dry
wine had been created. Thus was born what was called a recioto
scapa' in Venetian dialect (recioto
scappato in Italian): the recioto
that "got away."
A more plausible explanation of Amarone's origins
points to the fact that during Italy's
period of industrialization in the 1920s and 30s, Italian tastes began to
change and Italian winemaking styles began to emulate the drier style of Bordeaux and Burgundy
where vintners had been making dry wines for centuries. Most Italian wine was
vinified as sweet wine until that time because the
wine was easier to conserve. Count Camillo Cavour in Barolo and Baron Bettino Ricasoli
in Chianti (united Italy's
first two prime ministers, both winemakers!) were among the first to begin
making wines inspired by the dry French style as early as the mid-nineteenth
century.
Whether the result of a recioto that
"got away" or a natural evolution of a local wine tradition,
Amarone stands apart as one of the world's greatest wines. Its power is unique
and its ability to age exceptional. As Vino's Wine Director Charles Scicolone
has pointed out on numerous occasions, Amarone is one of the best wines to
pair with holiday meals. Its flavors are so intense that they stand up to
"all the trimmings," yet its tannin and structure so rich that it
pairs gorgeously with the heavy main courses of wintry celebrations.
The following wines are just some of Vino's current selection of Amarone.
AMARONE
DELLA VALPOLICELLA 2001 SANT'EUGENIO (GALLI)
(click
here to order)
$42.00
Capitel Sant'Eugenio is a
label created for this country by the famed Galli
family, who produces traditional-style Amarone that is never aged in
barrique.
AMARONE
DELLA VALPOLICELLA 2000 BEGALI
(click
here to order)
$48.00
Begali is a small, family-run, artisanal producer.
Its excellent wines are done in a moderately modern style, bringing out the
classic characterstics of Amarone with spicy
overtones.
AMARONE
DELLA VALPOLICELLA 2000 ALLEGRINI
(click
here to order)
$65.00
Adored by American wine writers, Allegrini is the
undisputed king of modern-style Amarone. Its wines are luscious, opulent, and
simply delicious.
AMARONE
DELLA VALPOLICELLA MARANO 1993 BOSCAINI
(click
here to order)
$65.00
As is made clear by this flight of single-vineyard Amarone stretching back to
1988 (see below), Boscaini is a traditional-style
producer that makes long-lived wines. These wines are a classic example of
how Amarone achieves a lightness in mouthfeel while
retaining its powerful flavors. Look for subtle secondary and teritiary notes in the 1990 and 1988.
AMARONE
DELLA VALPOLICELLA MARANO 1990 BOSCAINI
(click
here to order)
$75.00
AMARONE
DELLA VALPOLICELLA MARANO 1988 BOSCAINI
(click
here to order)
$78.00
