Amarone Wine

Hi!

Today I am going to be writing about Amarone Wine, for my latest class my classmates and I all chose a wine from Italy to learn about.

Amarone wine has the official name of Amarone della Valpolicella. The wine is fairly expensive due to the process of making the wine being more technical. To start with the wine originates in the Valpolicello area of Veneto in Northeastern Italy. Veneto is close to Venice. There are three styles of wine that is made Normale (which has a DOCG and has a minimum aging of 2 years), Riserva (must age for a minimum of 4 years), and Recito (sweet style, follows DOCG).

The process of making Amarone wine is very unique compared to the typical way of making wine. There are three types of grapes used to make the wine Corvina/Corvinone, Rodinella, and Molilnara. The Corvina/Corvinone grape primarily makes up the wine. Wineries will select older, more mature vines and the grapes are picked later in the season to ensure ripeness. The soil the grapes are grown in is located on clay hills and has calcareous layers. After they are hand harvested, they are laid on straw mats to dry for 120 days. DOCG guidelines require that 40% of the water content to be gone. The drying process results in an intense concentration/very high sugar content, greater than 15% alcohol. Next the fermentation is a slow process. The grapes now resembling raisins are pressed at a low temperature for at least 50 days. Next, the wine is transferred to barrels made of oak or chestnut. The aging process starts around a half-year of the harvest date.

The wine was registered as a DOC in 1968, this made it known to people that the wine was a recognized as a quality Italian wine. In 2010 Amarone became a DOCG which essentially is the same as the DOC except that it guarantees the quality to be the same universally in terms of harvesting and production of the wine. The DOCG is the highest designation among Italian wines.

The wine has two times the amount of fruit within the bottle compared to a traditional bottle. Due to the drying process of the grapes, the slow fermentation, and long term aging the price point for a bottle is quite high. The average price point is between $75-$100.

The wine itself has a bold aroma of cherry liqueur, black fig, carob, cinnamon, and plum sauce. The subtle notes are green peppercorn, chocolate, and crushed gravel dust. Amarone pairs well with steaks, stews, ribs, and big flavored cheese. The wine has a medium-plus to high acidity balanced with high alcohol and flavors of black cherry, brown sugar, and chocolate. The older the wine the more it offers flavors of brown sugar, molasses and fig.

A winery I focused on that produces the wine is Villa Mosconi Bertani. It is located in municipality of Negrar, Localita Novare, and is owned by Gaetano Bertani. The villa was constructed with the purpose of wine making since the 18th century. There is a historical cellar with cold cement and oak vats and some winemaking instruments from 1800s and early 1900s.

This wine is one of the most famous and appreciated not only in Italy but worldwide. In 1953 the production of the wine started on a regular basis after a barrel was found in a cellar in 1936 at the winery I mentioned earlier. The photo of the wine bottle earlier in the article is said to contain the wine found in the barrel. While the wine itself is pretty expensive it is one of the wines that almost everyone should try at least once in their life. It is a popular wine to get on your wedding day to drink on an anniversary down the line.

Here is a link to an article that goes into detail about the history of the wine and talks about the different versions and more information is given on the flavors and the production. I am also linking to a site that has an easier to follow guide to the wine along with some graphics to get a better understanding of where it is from and the makeup of the wine.