Divine winery visit in Valpolicella - Tommaso Bussola

Poetry of the tonneaux at Tommaso Bussola.

The first thing I notice is the silence. Admittedly, I’ve listened to our screaming rental car for the last hours, and finally the car is parked, but there is more to this feeling. As I keep on sensing, I can only hear the crickets and feel air staying put - the non-moving heat of a blazing summer day. All this stillness is accentuated by the minimalistic surroundings: the drive way entrance is a simple wall of white stone; the white winery with red brick grape drying rooms stands alone facing an open yard; a stack of pallets awaits the next wine shipment. There is nothing extra. This is when I realize that this place is Zen. What is essential, it is there.

When Giuseppe Bussola, Tommaso’s son responsible for winery’s PR and office, welcomes us, my first impression is confirmed. Out of us two I’m the talkative scandinavian who keeps on babbling, while he answers my questions quietly, with a friendly smile. Gradually his presence calms me down, and I find myself able just to listen. And this is when Giuseppe tells me the story of how Tommaso Bussola winery got started.  

The white family house is attached to the winery.

Originally, Tommaso Bussola didn’t work with wine, but his uncle Giuseppe, namesake of our host, did. When Tommaso decided that he didn’t want to work in office surroundings anymore, Giuseppe introduced him to vineyard work. Tommaso became passionate about vineyard management, and later the art of winemaking.  While Giuseppe was more a man of quantity than quality, alongside with Tommaso a change was about to come. The quality of the wine became an absolute guiding star.

In Barolo to Valpolicella (2004) MW Nicolas Belfrage, an expert in Italian wine writes that when high quality winemaking became Tommaso’s passion, he kept painstakingly aiming at his goal. He took a loan to build his family house and winery with all the things necessary for making best possible wine from start to finish. The results of this determination were soon evident - and what kind of results were they! When Belfrage asked the legendary Amarone producer Giuseppe Quintarelli (1927-1912) whom he particularly recommended among the younger generation in Valpolicella, Quintarelli gave only one name: Tommaso Bussola.

Giuseppe introducing the cellar.

Walking alongside Giuseppe in Bussola’s cellars I realise that I’ve come to a temple. Again, Zen is in the air as the rustic, peach tinted arched vaults carry the weight of the winery with robust grace, protecting the magnificent five-hectoliter tonneaux. The rhythm at which these medium-sized Slavonian, American and French oak casks are arranged in the cellar space is sheer poetry.  Giuseppe tells that each year there are 60 000-70 000 bottles of wine ageing in these tonneaux: Valpolicella classico, ripasso, and their especially celebrated Amarone and Recioto.

Bussola’s wines are divided into two deparate lines. The oak used for the basic line wines is in its second or third passage, while only new oak is used for the TB line. Covering 14 hectares, Bussolas vineyards are mostly planted with Valpolicella’s traditional grape varieties Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Croatina and Molinara. The vineyards are located in three different crus: Ca del Laito lies just below the winery, while Vigneto Alto and Casalin are a few kilometres away. A small vineyard area also produces international varieties for more experimental wines like L’Errante, an international red blend made with Amarone technique, and Peagna, a white dessert wine made partially of local varieties and partially of Chardonnay. Peagna is produced in a very small quantity and only in the best vintages.

At harvest time, the grape picking is done with meticulous precision. Five, even six visits may be paid to the same patch of vineyard to pick only the optimally ripe grapes. Bussola aims at producing all their three Amarones every year. Their principle is that any of the Amarones will be left unproduced in case the grapes do not match Bussola’s quality standard. Also, this goes for any of their other products. For example, in 2013 and 2014 hail and rain destroyed 2/3 of the crop, hence basic line Valpolicella classico was not produced at all.

TB line Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is ready to travel.

In the tasting room everything Giuseppe has told becomes tangible reality as we are presented with the following works of art: Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore Ca del Laito 2011, Valpolicella Superiore TB 2010, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2009, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva TB 2008, and finally, Peagna. At the time of our visit a new vintage of Recioto is just being bottled, while Valpolicella Classico is sold out, so unfortunately these can’t be tasted right now. In the following, I’ll sketch the general experience of the tasting for you. To do these wines justice, I’ll post separate, more detailed wine review posts of chosen wines at a later point in time.

Because Valpolicella Classico is not available, the tasting starts with cru Ca del Laito wine made with ripasso technique. Boom! I’m being knocked me off my feet by the very first wine. I can’t stop marveling the intensity of its particular cherry aroma. Together with a sophisticated almond aroma the cherries resemble those marinated in maraschino liqueur. Further, the structure of this wine is impressive: acidic, concentrated, with ripe and plentiful tannins. The high alcohol is well balanced with the abundance of structural elements.

Ca del Laito ripasso being the entry-level wine of the tasting, you can just imagine the development as we travel through the basic line Amarone, TB line ripasso and TB line Amarone. Simplicity is replaced with more complexity; concentration becomes, if possible, even more concentrated. What stays is the impression of maraschino cherries - the intense and fresh cherry primary fruit accompanied with almond flavour. Depending on the oak usage, there is more or less oak influence, vanilla and toast.

Amarones, not surprisingly, are the most deep and complex out of the wines with floral, liquorice and spice aromas. The wines that have matured the longest are very layered, and still the freshness of their fruit remains pristine. 2008 TB Amarone gets a special mention form Giuseppe for its particular aromatics: this vintage was exceptionally hot in Valpolicella and producers struggled with jammy fruit aromas. Nonetheless, in 2008 TB Amarone the fruit remains bright and fresh. Finally, the finish of every wine is extensive, vibrant and fruity. Dear vinous friends, up until now Amarone in general has been slightly too fruit driven for my taste. However, these wines have changed me, to say the least. I’m impressed.

While we thank and say our goodbyes Giuseppe expresses his regrets we didn’t get to taste their Recioto - the wine that is particularily important for Bussola. While I’m of course curious of this wine, I have no problem with leaving with such a good excuse to return for a new visit in the future! And, on top of that I’d like to taste their basic line Valpolicella classico, as I’ve got inkling it might change my idea of Valpolicella normale entirely.

Coordinates 

Azienda Agricola Tommaso Bussola

Via Molino Turri, 30

37024 Negrar

bussolavini.com

info@bussolavini.com

Tel. 045 7501740 

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.