The Cellar: Amarone Della Valpolicella

Friday, February 19, 2016

Steffen Rasch, GoLocalWorcester Wine Writer

One of my favorite 'special occasion' wines is the Amarone della Valpolicella. If you are among the many who enjoy big, bold and fruit-forward red wines, and don’t mind spending $50+ on a quality bottle of juice, the Italian Amarone could be your next favorite wine.

Amarone wines are made exclusively in Veneto's westernmost Valpolicella region. The grape varieties that make this classic blend are the indigenous Corvina and its sub-variety Corvinone, Rondinella and Molinara. However what makes the Amarone truly special is what happens after the harvest, as the grapes are spread out on shelves and left to dehydrate in temperature and humidity controlled rooms. This drying process, called appassimento in Italian, causes the water inside the grapes to evaporate thereby intensifying the flavors and concentrating the natural sugars. After a lengthy maceration period the grapes are then pressed and the juice fermented into alcohol. The result is a densely flavored and super complex wine. If you’ve never tasted an Amarone I highly recommend you seek one out. Look for a bottle with some age on it (2004-2010) as well-made Amarones usually need a few years in the bottle to come together.

Amarones has always been a popular wine in Europe. However in the past 10-20 years Amarone has experienced an increased demand worldwide as new wine lovers (especially in the U.S. and China) have discovered these great, age-worthy wines. The increased demand has had two consequences that you as a potential Amarone consumer should be aware of. First of all, as could be expected, the prices of the most sought-after Amarones have skyrocketed. In some cases to price points mirroring those of top-notch Burgundies and classified Bordeaux. On the other end of the spectrum a new ($30-$40) category of Amarone has been born. While some of these wines are absolutely delicious and thereby excellent values, many of them are not and the often large-scale producers behind these wines are ‘cutting corners’, i.e. using less than desirable vineyards sites, blending grapes from across the region, messing with the drying and fermentation process and meeting only the absolute minimum aging requirements for making Amarone.

This week's featured Amarone is a real quality example; it is the $80ish 2009 Amarone Della Valpolicella made by the Marchesi Fumanelli family who has been cultivated grapes and produced wines from their estate since 1470. Today, Fumanelli remains one of the region’s largest and most historic family owned wineries with 78 acres of estate vineyards planted within the walls of their ancient property located 8 miles from Verona.

Their 2009 Amarone was made from 40% Corvina, 40% Corvinone and 20% Rondinella, all hand-harvested from decades old estate vines. The grapes then underwent 120 days of appassimento before being pressed off and left to macerate for 25 days. After fermentation the wine was aged for 30 months in oversized French oak barrels called 'tonneaux' and an additional 8 months in the bottle prior to being released.

An additional few years in bottle has resulted in an absolutely stunning wine; big and bold, yet velvety tannins make for a soft and smooth mouthfeel. One thing I didn’t mention in the introduction is a savory minerality that many Amarones display – the Fumanelli is no exception. The fruit is a delicious blend of super ripe and slightly tart making for a very complex impression. Dried figs and hints of sweet vanilla finishes this monster of a wine. Good stuff! This is a wine that drinks perfectly today, but will age gracefully and turn increasingly savory in the next decade.

Cheers,

Steffen Rasch is a Certified Sommelier and Specialist of Wine. Feel free to email him at [email protected] with any wine-related questions or learn about wine in person by signing up for one of his tastings at the Providence Wine Academy.

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