Amarone is a hand-made product

Amarones age a minimum of three years in this picturesque cellar at Bussola's .

Valpolicella wines come in a wide range of prices: in a European supermarket a bottle of basic Valpolicella might cost just a couple of euros, while Amarone starts at minimum of 20 euros, wherever you might find it. What makes these wines so different, even though they are made from the same grape varieties in the same area?

First, there unfortunately still is a marked overproduction of modest quality basic Valpolicella that comes from the plains of Po river valley, while the grapes for Amarone are grown at the best, hilly vineyard sites. Also, the current popularity of a more fruity wine style has made Amarone a popular brand. The main reason for Amarone’s high value, however, is the huge demand of skilled care and labour it requires throughout its production.

Valpolicella normale is made of lesser quality grapes, and they are often the ones that have been excluded from Amarone production. Hence, even if a grape were grown on the best site, its juice wouldn’t necessarily end up in a bottle of Amarone. Working at the vineyards on steep slopes is by definition manual. And the more ambitious the Amarone producer, the more intensively fine tuned this manual work becomes. Just for example, during the harvest the grapes are not only hand picked, but also several passages are made through each vineyard to pick the grapes when they are optimally ripe.

Precision is especially vital already at the stage of grape picking for successfully producing high quality Amarone. In case any grey rot infected or damaged grapes are picked, a mouldy catastrophe takes place in the drying room. This is why only healthy and optimally ripe grapes are picked. Subsequently, the grapes are delicately carried in single layers to avoid their skins from breaking, to the drying room. Only intact grapes survive the four months or more of drying without becoming mouldy. And while only the best of the best grapes are accepted for making the Amarone, a third of the juice of these grapes is lost through evaporation in the drying process.

Amarone producers go to great lengths to avoid negative grey rot in the drying room. Many drying rooms are equipped with ventilators in addition to building the rooms open for natural ventilation that wind provides. In case noble rot is favoured for aromatical reasons, as might be the case for Recioto, the humidity needs to be optimised to favour its development. However, this is strenuous work - the line between noble and grey rot is indeed fine. Whether or not noble rot is desired, the battle against grey rot is constant during the four months of drying the grapes for Amarone and Recioto. Of these four months, the first ten days are the most vulnerable period. Grey rot infected grapes need to be removed immediately as they appear to avoid it taking over the entire harvest and spoiling it.

After the thriller in the drying room it’s the time for fermentation. However, the winters of Northern Italy aren’t warm, especially in the mountain foothills. When the drying of the grapes is finished, the coolest time of the year is at hand; yeasts are reluctant to wake up from their winter hibernation. Under these circumstances getting the fermentation going certainly can’t be taken for granted. Once the fermentation is on its way, it takes long because of the low water content of the must. Long fermentation increases the risk of spoilage. And still, after a successful fermentation, plenty of time, cellar and barrel space - and work - is required as these great wines of Valpolicella are aged at length, and typically released after 5 years of their vintage of production.

It becomes easy to understand the price point Amarone is sold at when considering the hurdles its producer needs to face before ending up with a complete wine. Clearly, not everyone is suited for taking on this kind of a job. You can just imagine how excited I was to be welcomed to visit one of the most ambitious Amarone and Recioto producing wineries in Valpolicella, Tommaso Bussola. I’ll share this experience on my next blog post. You are most welcome to join me on this Divine Wine visit! 

Bussola's entry-level Amarone from the nearly perfect vintage of 2009.

Winemaking in Valpolicella

High quality Valpolicella is hill-grown.

Too steep! Our little rental car protests agreeing only to the first gear as we start climbing up the home hills of quality Valpolicella. Here the traditional divide between classico and non-classico wine zones doesn’t always indicate respective quality difference. Rather, quality is essentially a function of two things: restricted yields, and grapes grown in the hills instead of the plain. With these points in mind, we continue travelling at a steep angle in our heroistic, high-pitched vehicle.

Finally, we reach our destination: Tommaso Bussola’s winery close to Negrar in Valpolicella classico. The car now parked and silent, one can only hear vine leaves swishing. Peaceful and filled with roses in full bloom, this landscape is the obvious home for the concentrated, powerful, yet floral Amarone.

But let's not hurry, dear vinous friends. Before we get to the winery visit at Bussola, I feel a need to cover some basics. Hence, this post is about the winemaking techniques typical of Valpolicella area, and will later be followed by posts about Amarone, and Tommaso Bussola winery.

Three styles of winemaking in Valpolicella

Valpolicella red wines are made with three distinct techniques. First, there is Valpolicella normale; second, Recioto and Amarone made of partially dried grapes; and third, ripasso wine. The ordinary Valpolicella is made along the lines of any normal red wine with relatively short maceration with fresh grape skins. The resulting product may be anything from a structured premium wine from grapes grown in the hills or a light, fruity and uncomplicated bulk wine from the plains.

Although the bulk wines from Adige river valley plains have harmed Valpolicella’s reputation, it has retained its greatness through Recioto, a sweet and bitter red reminiscent of fortified wines, and especially through Amarone, currently a star product of the area. Recioto and Amarone’s exceptional concentration is achieved through partially drying the grapes before winemaking. While this appassimento technique results in a third of the water volume being evaporated, all the goodness in the grapes is concentrated - especially sugar and extract. The grapes for Amarone are dried in this manner atleast for four months, and Recioto grapes even longer. This takes place in special drying rooms usually built in the lofts of the wineries. The beautiful, lacy brick structures typical to Valpolicella wineries hence serve a crucial function besides being aesthetic.

The brick lace drying room walls of Bussola winery.

Once the grapes are sufficiently dried, they are crushed and the fermentation begins. Challenging the fermenting yeasts, the must has a high sugar concentration. Although sugar is just what yeasts need to function, a very high concentration of sugar can paradoxally hinder the yeast or even kill it. Whether the fermentation is completed depends on the specific strains of yeast involved. Strains better equipped to tolerate high levels of sugar and alcohol can ferment the wine to dryness, resulting in Amarone. If the fermentation comes to a halt at en earlier point, residual sugar is present and the wine produced is Recioto. Actually, it is speculated that Amarone (amare, ital. for bitter) was originally Recioto gone wrong! Both wines have a high alcohol content due to the high sugar levels at the start of fermentation. Legally it is required that Amarone has a minimum of 14 % alcohol.

Ripasso, the third technique, innovatively utilises the grape skins left behind from Amarone fermentation. These skins full of power, flavour and phenols are used to upgrade Valpolicella normale by taking this ordinary, often relatively light red in contact with the Amarone skins for second fermentation. This way the resulting ripasso (re-passed) wine, although still lighter and less alcoholic, receives more power and body, and communicates the aromatic complexity of Amarone.

In my next post I’ll still be looking at Amarone in more depth. After that, I’ll take you to meet the Bussolas. Cin cin until then! 

Valpolicella normale waits for ripasso in stainless steel.

Recommended in Brescia, Italy - Dolcevite wine bar

Piazza Paolo VI in Brescia. A glimpse of Dolcevite's terrace on the very right.

Dolcevite’s setting couldn’t be much more impressive, as the Old and New Duomo of Brescia glow beautifully lit facing the lucky wine lovers that have found their way to this terrace on Piazza Paolo VI. There are just a couple of tables inside, but the real gem of this wine bar is the abundance of relaxed tables outside, filled with locals chatting over a plentiful choice of Franciacorta bubbles offered by the glass at very reasonable prices. Normally, you would expect this kind of piazza be littered with touristico style, overpriced cafes and restaurants, but Brescia is a different story. Dolcevite has this dramatic space almost to itself, the customers are locals apart from us two, and yet the service is multilingual, friendly and fast. And winesavvy. I’m truly impressed! 

Naturally, the wine list consists of almost only Italian wines, with a few German exceptions. There are around 50 wines on offer by the glass, with a broad selection of Franciacortas, which is only appropriate as Brescia is practically next to Franciacorta DOCG area. By the bottle, Dolcevite serves around 100 wines, on the top of which they a separate wine shop price list and selection.

A sign of a true wine bar, the story of the wine served is important to Dolcevite. On the wine list, organic, biodynamic and natural wines are clearly marked. And to tackle the ambiguous as the concept of natural wine, Dolcevite has written a comprehensive definition of natural wine on their website. This definition concentrates around uninterventionistic style of winemaking. However, if you are interested in looking further into this definition, you’ll need Italian skills or at least google translate, as the website is solely in Italian.

Dolcevite's wonderful chocolate salami.

After having a couple of glasses of Franciacorta, we get inspired by the dessert menu. We might have just eaten a massive dinner, but there’s always space left for dessert, right? Chocolate salami sounds intriguing, so that is our novelty seeking order. What soon approaches us is a stylishly minimalistic assembly of something resembling black pudding. But the taste is neither of black pudding nor salami - it is of chocolate heaven. A slight argument results as we attempt to decide who gets the last bite. Just a friendly tip: if you order dessert at Dolcevite, make sure everyone gets a portion of their own!

A wonderful place for tasting Franciacorta and uninterventionistic Italian wines. Warmly recommended.

Divine Wine tasted at Dolcevite

Cavalleri Pas Dosé Franciacorta 2010 Lombardy, Italy

  

Coordinates

Dolcevite

Piazza Paolo VI 21, 25121 Brescia

vineriadolcevite@mailcertificatapec.it

Tel 0302906147

http://www.vineriadolcevite.it

Cavalleri Pas Dosé Franciacorta 2010 Lombardy, Italy

Cavalleri Pas Dosé Franciacorta 2010

Wine review

3 of 5 stars

A good wine

I’m attempting my very best to squint my eyes in the pitch-black night of Brescia, but no. I can’t say much about the colour or the bubble quality of this Franciacorta apart from that it looks temptingly fresh as water condenses on the surface of the glass. After a day of blazing sun the temperature is still 30 degrees Celsius. Not a very objective starting point for reviewing a chilled bubbly, I admit!

Chardonnay is conveyed identifiably and elegantly on the nose. Citrus character dominating, there are also marked notes of white flowers and a hint of fresh apricot. Even though lees influence can be detected, these aromas aren’t very developed but remain more yeasty than anything else.

Crispy dry, florally fresh and finely bubbling, this light bodied Franciacorta has a wonderful mouth feel. Very high acidity is complemented by medium fruitiness. Flavourwise the story continues along the same lines with the nose – floral and citrus notes are leading the way, while slight yeasty notes of lees appear on the mid-palate. Lime flavour stays for a medium length in the finish.

Although this sparkling wine reflects its variety and terroir, I find it somewhat simplistic aromatically – hence a good wine instead of very good. Nevertheless, it is definitely good and I would have it again in an instant, should Finland be so lucky to still get a couple of sunny days this summer.

Info in a nutshell

Price examples:

EUR 6/glass, EUR 24/bottle wine bar Dolcevite, Brescia, Lombardy, Italy

EUR 28.55 web shop www.saporedivino.biz (site in Italian only)

Country and region: Italy, Lombardy, Franciacorta DOCG, Erbusco

Grapes: 100% Chardonnay

Alc vol: 12,5%

Producer: Cavalleri

Cavalleri Pas Dosé and Duomo Vecchio di Brescia

Background

Franciacorta, “Champagne of Italy”, lies in Lombardy, on the shore of lake Iseo, neighbouring the city of Brescia. Although Franciacorta is now regarded probably the most prestigious sparkling wine of Italy, the history of this noble bubbly remains relatively short. It was only in 1961 when the oenologist Franco Ziliani of Berlucchi winery envisioned a bottle fermented sparkling wine. Preceding, only still wines for everyday use were produced in the area.

The vision proved to be successful as Franciacorta rightfully received a DOCG status in 1995. Today, this champagne character sparkling wine is produced to highest of standards, solely from Chardonnay and Spätburgunder grapes, with the exception of allowing for maximum of 15% of Grauburgunder in the blends. Franciacorta stays on lees minimum of 18 months, the requirement being minimum of 30 months for vintage wines. Cavalleri Pas Dosé 2010 has had lees contact of at least 42 months, and its remuage has been manual.

This Pas Dosé 2010 is very dry indeed, as no sugar has been added post disgorgement. Not adding sugar at this stage influences also the development of the wine from this point on. Typically, the proteins released from the lees before disgorgement would now further interact with the newly added sugar creating more complex lees flavours such as those of honey, toast and nuts. Further development also occurs in pas dosé wines, but in a different, less understood manner, as this method is relatively new in sparkling wine production. Hence, it may well be that my slight disappointment towards the aromatics of this wine is due to its pas dosé –typicity, which is a novel area to me. Obviously, I’d need to try more of these wines to gain insight. I’ve got no objections to that!

Divine Wine returns with a tan - and tannins

Brescia Castle in Brescia, Lombardy, Italy.

 

Dear friends of wine and Divine Wine, I’ve returned from my travels. July was about a relentless and sweaty - nevertheless very enjoyable - search for divine wines in Mediterranean Europe. Our very small rental car gave its maximum speed on the highways of Italy, was almost swept away by brisk Slovenian side winds and, finally, was covered in dust on the minuscule, bumpy dirt roads of Istrian coast in Croatia. On a daily basis, temperatures of 35 to 40 degrees Celsius challenged the aromatic integrity of both me and my precious wine buys on the back seat. And, dear friends, all this was happily endured just to bring you a massive amount of exciting tips about fantastic, new wines, obscure local grape varieties, wonderful wine bars and places to travel for your next divine wine vacation! This week I’ll start by taking you to Lombardy, the country of Franciacorta sparkling wine. I’m excited; it’s great to be back!

Floral notes on the top of Brescia Castle.