The Valpolicella appellation of north-eastern Italy is located just north of the city of Verona in the Veneto region and just east of Lake Garda. This is a land of rolling hills covered in vines, olive and cherry trees. This region is steeped in history with impressive villas.
The wines here are made from indigenous grapes only found in the Veneto region – Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella.
The wines from this region will be labelled as:
- Valpolicella DOC – ruby red with cherry and rose notes. Dry with enough tannin to pair well with food.
- Valpolicella Superiore DOC – made from selected grapes from the best locations. Aged for a minimum of one year. Leans more to garnet red. The nose is more developed with hints of vanilla.
- Valpolicella Ripasso DOC – this is basic Valpolicella that has sat on Amarone skins for about 15 to 20 days. This gives the wine better structure, a richer complexity and longer aging potential. The alcohol is a little higher than basic Valpolicella and the acidity is lower. Ruby red with garnet notes. Red fruit and vanilla.
- Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG – made from air-dried grapes that lose moisture (begin to raisin), thus concentrating sugar and increasing longevity to twenty years or more. Garnet red with aromas of dried fruit, tobacco and spices. It is fruity, dry and full bodied on the palate with higher alcohol levels.
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Grapes beginning to raisin 
- Recioto Valpolicella DOCG – more intense that Amarone, left to dry for as long as 120 days. Intense colour with jammy dried fruit aromas, especially ripe black cherry. It is velvety on the palate and very well integrated with sufficient acidity to balance the sugar. Serve with dessert or blue cheeses.
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Grapes drying on racks - (Pardon me for a moment – my mouth is watering)
There has been a recent effort in Valpolicella to move to wards ‘ethical vineyards’. The RRR designation stands for ‘Reduce, Respect, Retrench’ is a five year process that works to ‘conserving the landscape and that of the ecosystem, from resource management to safeguarding biodiversity, to the protection of a territory where professional viticulture and urbanization are side-by-side . . .” as stated by Olga Bussinello, Director of the Valpolicella Consortium. This focus will benefit consumers and the wine industry as a whole.
Since 75% of these wines are exported this is a smart move as consumers, especially in the Western world, are more environmentally aware. Canada is a big part of that world as it is the third largest importer of Valpolicella wines. In fact, the Valpolicella Consortium did a lot of research into Canadian’s buying habits when it comes to Italian wines. It turns out that we really like Ripasso wines, followed by Valpolicella and Amarone. With respect to regular purchasers of Amarone, they tend to be higher educated and have higher incomes (no surprise there) and have traveled to Italy in the past. They describe the wine as, ‘a top quality classic Italian wine that is elegant and full bodied, reflecting the best of Italian tradition.’
Valpolicella wines are well suited for foodies as well. The bright fresh Valpolicella makes for a perfect luncheon wine or for first courses, moving to Ripasso and or Amarone wines with heavier, richer dishes and then finishing off with a Recioto.
Saluti!
(All photos courtesy of Valpolicella Consorzio Tutela Vini)
