In the embrace of rolling landscapes, where the breath of Lake Garda mingles with the essence of the Lessini Mountains in the Veneto region in northern Italy, Valpolicella emerges as a vinous gem, enchanting aficionados with its refined complexities and an age-old heritage that whispers through the vines. Winemaking here is one of continuity, where ancient techniques coalesce with modern innovations, and each bottle becomes a vessel carrying the echoes of generations past.
Valpolicella’s vine-strewn panorama, framed by the indigenous Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, and Molinara grape varieties, tells the story of a viticultural legacy etched into the very soul of the land. A place where the meticulous appassimento method transforms grapes into liquid poetry, and the art of blending orchestrates a symphony of flavours. From the vineyard to the cellar, Valpolicella beckons us to appreciate the profound connection between the land and the libation it yields. promising a sensory journey that transcends time.
The Grapes: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, and Molinara
Corvina: A Noble Heirloom of Valpolicella’s Legacy
Corvina, often regarded as the cornerstone of Valpolicella blends, boasts a storied history dating back centuries. Deriving its name from ‘corvo’, the Italian word for raven, its name literally means ‘little raven’. Corvina is a delicate grape prone to disease and sunburn, and sensitive to humidity and water stress. Nevertheless, its thick skin means it does well in the appassimento process for air-drying grapes in order to concentrate its sugars and aromas. It thrives in the region’s chalky clay soils, basking in the optimal conditions between Lake Garda and the Lessini Mountains. Naturally low in tannins, its small, concentrated berries, bring forth flavours of red cherry and sour cherry, a subtle almond note, and a vibrant acidity that adds verve to Valpolicella wines. Whether playing a solo role or harmonizing in a blend, Corvina imparts elegance and structure to the wines that have made Valpolicella renowned.
Corvinone: The Bold Sibling with Robust Character:
Corvinone, historically often confused with the more popular Corvina, despite being a separate variety. Its name can be translated as ‘big Corvina’, and it is predominately used as a supporting player in the Corvina-dominant blends of Valpolicella. Corvinone has gained recognition for its denser colour and dark fruit characteristics. While it shares some similarities with Corvina, Corvinone brings its own distinct presence, contributing depth and complexity to the wines. In recent years, Corvinone’s individual expression has been increasingly acknowledged, allowing it to shine as a protagonist in some Valpolicella blends.
Rondinella: The Supporting Muse:
Rondinella, a relatively neutral grape to the Valpolicella composition, has long played a supporting role. It is a disease-resistant, reliably high-yielding variety that lends itself well to the appassimento process, where grapes are air-dried to concentrate flavours.
Molinara: The Graceful Accent of Valpolicella:
Molinara, though often in the background, brings a touch of grace to the Valpolicella ensemble. Naturally high in acidity, though weak in colour and prone to oxidation, Molinara is used to add freshness to the wines.
Valpolicella Wines
Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG & Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG
Both considered to be the best expressions of Valpolicella wines, production of both Amarone della Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella has, since 2010, been determined by their separate DOCG framework. Valpolicella wines share the same grape composition rules set out by their DOC/ DOCG guidelines and are as follows:
- 45-95% Corvina Veronese (Cruina or Corvina), and/ or Corvinone,
- 5-30% Rondinella,
- Up to 15% non-aromatic red-grape varietals that are permitted to be grown within the province of Verona, with no single varietal exceeding 10%,
- Up to 10% aromatic red-grape varietals that are permitted to be grown within the province of Verona.
The processes for producing Amarone and Recioto are also regulated by their DOCGs, you can access the full translated text here for Amarone, and here for Recioto.
The making of these wines begins in the vineyard, with the careful selection of grapes. Only the healthiest and ripest bunches are chosen, as they will undergo the appassimento process. After harvest, the selected grape bunches are laid out in well-ventilated drying rooms or on drying racks known as ‘arele’, or in wooden or plastic crates. The process for drying the grapes is called appassimento, the grapes gradually lose moisture, causing them to shrivel and concentrate their sugars, flavours, and aromas. This process can take up to 4 months and is crucial for achieving the characteristic richness and intensity of these wines.
Once dried, the grapes are gently pressed to extract the concentrated juice. The raisined berries yield a lower volume of juice compared to fresh grapes, but this juice is highly concentrated and rich in sugars. The must undergoes fermentation, typically in stainless steel or concrete tanks. Fermentation is carried out at low temperature and can take more than a month to complete, which helps to preserve the wine’s aromas and flavours. Recioto della Valpolicella is made by stopping fermentation early in order to produce a wine with high residual sugar.
After fermentation, Amarone della Valpolicella is aged in large oak barrels or smaller barriques for a period of time. This aging process helps to further develop the wine’s flavors, aromas, and texture, while also imparting subtle oak nuances. The minimum length of aging is 2 years counted from the first January after harvest and 4 years for Riservas counted from November of the harvest year. However, total time aged often varies depending on the producer’s preferences and the wine’s intended style.
There are no minimum aging requirements specified for Recioto della Valpolicella.
The result of this meticulous process are wines of unparalleled complexity and character. Amarone and Recioto captivate the senses with their deep ruby hue, intense aromas of ripe dark fruits, dried flowers, baking spices, and a hint of earthiness. On the palate, Amarone offers a velvety texture, full body, and a harmonious balance of fruit, acidity, and supple tannins, while Recioto comes with added sweetness.
Once harvested, the grapes that aren’t destined to be used for Amarone or Recioto production are crushed and transferred to fermentation tanks to make basic Valpolicella wine. Unlike Amarone or Recioto, where the grapes are dried before fermentation, Valpolicella Ripasso undergoes an initial fermentation with fresh, un-dried grapes, during which time the sugars in the grapes are converted into alcohol, producing a young Valpolicella wine with bright fruit flavours.
This basic Valpolicella wine is transferred to large oak casks or stainless steel tanks until Amarone and Recioto are made. The leftover grape skins, seeds, and pomace from the production of Amarone and Recioto are collected. This mixture of grape solids is then added to the Valpolicella wine, in a process which gives the wine its name Ripasso, meaning ‘re-passing’.
The addition of these grape solids to Valpolicella wine triggers a second fermentation process, where the residual sugars from the added grape solids ferment further, increasing the alcohol content and intensifying the flavours. Following the second fermentation, the Valpolicella Ripasso is aged in oak barrels or stainless steel tanks for a period of time. The length of aging can vary depending on the producer’s preferences and the desired characteristics of the wine.
In 2010 this style of wine was granted its own DOC framework, the translated version can be accessed here.
Valpolicella, Classico, Superiore DOC
Valpolicella DOC is perhaps the most basic wine made in Valpolicella, nevertheless, it is still guided by rules set out by its DOC. Only grapes grown in the Valpolicella wine region can be used, and used within the quantities set out by the DOC, (See above for grape composition rules).
If the wine is crafted from grapes grown in the historic heartland of the region, then it can be labelled as Classico. Valpolicella Superiore is used to label those wines that have undergone slightly longer aging of at least a year from the first January after harvest, and often comes from hillside vineyards, and offer greater complexity and structure.
You can access the full translated text for the DOC framework governing Valpolicella here.
An Ancient Tradition
Valpolicella’s winemaking traditions are steeped in history, with techniques that have been passed down through the centuries, with evidence of grape cultivation and winemaking dating back to the Roman era. In a letter written in the 6th century AD, Cassiodorus, scholar at the court of Theodoric the Great of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, lauds the local wine of the region, Acinaticum, inviting the recipient of the letter to buy some.
The region is renowned for its iconic winemaking style, the appassimento method, where grapes are dried before fermentation. This process concentrates flavours, sugars, and aromas, giving rise to the region’s most celebrated wines, the Amarone della Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella. This winemaking technique can be traced back into antiquity, where it was know as the ‘Greek-style’. However, it wasn’t until the Middle Ages that Valpolicella’s potential as a wine-producing region began to flourish, with the expansion of maritime trade that came with the growth of the Republic of Venice.
The development of the the Valpolicella wine region was further stimulated over the course of the 15th century, as confrontations with the Ottoman Turks resulted in recurrent blockades of Venetian ports. In response to these challenges, the Venetians intensified their efforts to cultivate their domestic vineyards. Expanding their viticultural pursuits, they ventured deeper into the hills of the Valpolicella region.
Modern History: Struggles and Developments
Over the 19th and 20th centuries the vineyards of the Valpolicella were significantly challenged by pests and disease, as well as socio-political upheaval and war.
Having endured the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, the area, though ultimately relatively untouched, was then caught up in the political upheaval of Italy’s unification process, known as the Risorgimento, which posed a considerable risk to the vineyards of the region with insurrections and conflicts between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire taking place in the area.
Alongside the challenges posed by social and political changes were also a collection of pests and diseases affecting the vineyards in the second half of the century. Among them were powdery mildew in the early 1850s, followed by the phylloxera epidemic in the 1870s and 80s, which swept across Europe in the second half of the century, devastating vineyards, and wreaking havoc on grapevines. Winegrowers were met with the arduous task of replanting and grafting vines onto resistant rootstocks. Coupled with this were various outbreaks of downy mildew which hit the vineyards of the Valpolicella, effects of which were only exacerbated by the post-Risorgimento economic downturn. It wasn’t until the late 1930s that the winegrowers of the Valpolicella finally managed to defeat phylloxera, by having had to graft almost all of the vines onto the phylloxera resistant American rootstocks.
Despite the major challenges that Valpolicella faced, the 19th century was also a time of many advancements in viticulture that brought with it changes to winemaking practices.
In 1888, the term ‘Recioto’, or ‘Rechiotto’ at the time, makes its first appearance in a piece written by G. B. Perez. Recalling the ‘Greek-style’ wine of the middle ages, Recioto is a sweet wine made with grapes that have undergone the appassimento process. Prior to this, there had been four main wines of the area: Valpolicella, Valpolicella Superiore, and the two more highly regarded ones known as di Monte and di Collina. In 1936 the name Amarone makes its first appearance, with the oldest Amarone-labelled bottle dated 1940. A dry wine made with the appassimento method used to make Recioto. The addition of the word ‘amarone’, a word deriving from the Italian word for bitter, ‘amaro’, was to distinguish it from Recioto, thus, wines were labelled Recioto Amarone.
The years following the tumultuous years of World War II, brought a period of recovery and renaissance to Valpolicella’s vineyards. Despite having been created over 15 years earlier, Amarone had to wait until 1953 to be officially commercialised. The latter part of the 20th century marked a significant turning point for Valpolicella on the global stage, and both Amarone and Recioto enjoyed great success.
In 1968 Valpolicella was established as a DOC, the Italian classification of wine, modelled on the French AOC, used to grant some legal protection to wine. However, the guidelines established by the DOC greatly increased the areas that were now allowed to produce Valpolicella wine and expanded the grape composition of the wine to include lower quality varietals. Areas that were permitted to produce Valpolicella now included the high-yielding lower-quality vineyards of the fertile Po river plains. These changes led many grape growers to abandon their labour-intensive vineyards on the hillsides for less labour-intensive vineyards on the plains. , which ended up leading to a reduction of quality in the wine and price, thus the profitability diminished too.
However, as the 20th century drew to a close and the popularity of Amarone had been steadily increasing, many producers in the region began to recognise the need to make their wines more distinctive, so therefore began cultivating the more labour-intensive land on the hillsides, which produced higher quality fruit, thus better wines. By the new millennium the production of Amarone grew almost eight times what it was in the 1970s. Demand increased prices, including the price for the grapes destined to Amarone production, which in turn reignited interest in cultivating the more labour-intensive higher quality sites on the hillsides.
Henceforth, the quality and popularity of Valpolicella wines, particularly Amarone and Recioto, improved and in 2010 both Amarone and Recioto were promoted to their own DOCG status.
Italy with Amore 