Wine Club 10th Meeting

For the latest meeting of Wine Club, we took look at a couple of wines from Northern Italy – a Valpolicella and an Amarone. Both wines are grown in the Veneto region of Italy. The Veneto region is in the top north-eastern corner of Italy.

"And in this corner, weighing in at 15% alcohol..."

Both wines also are made from the same grapes – Covina is the predominant grape with some Rondinella and Molinara grapes mixed in to round out the wine. The big difference is how the grapes are treated after harvesting. The grapes used for Amarone are dried out on straw mats; this concentrates the sugars in the grapes. This process is called rasinate (to dry and shrivel) in Italian. Where as Valpolicella the grapes are processed in the more common way. There is a wine in between the two called ripasso Valpolicella which is made by adding the pomace left over from pressing of the Amarone.

Here is the LCBO information on the two wines that were picked –

LCBO Information – Tommasi Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso

Stock Number – 910430
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ $ 19.75 (+ $.20 deposit)
Made in: Veneto, Italy
Sugar Content : 1
By: Tomassi
Release Date: May 10, 2008

Description - This new addition to our Essentials Collection from the acclaimed Veneto producer, Tommasi, features a deep ruby-purple colour and aromas of plum, mushroom, cinnamon, leather and tomato leaf. It has an accessible New World nose and a very elegant, flavourful European-wine palate. Dry, smooth and juicy, it is nicely balanced with a zippy acidity and supportive tannins. An excellent partner for meat and vegetable lasagna or roast pork in a reduction sauce.

LCBO Information – Remo Farina Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico Monte Fante 1998

Stock Number – 63636
Volume – 2x750mL
Price: $ 62.75 (+ $.20 deposit)
Made in: Veneto, Italy
By: F.Lli Farina.
Release Date: Apr 12, 2008

Description - This exceptional single-vineyard Amarone displays all the strengths of Remo Farina's regular bottling, which is frequently in our stores, but taken to an even more elevated level. The fruit is hand selected from the drying mats to ensure supreme quality of the finished wine. The resulting product is rich, ripe, round and deeply delicious. This 10-year-old is just hitting its stride, especially if served with a robust braised beef dish, but it will also reward 2-4 more years in a cellar.

As you can see there is quite a price difference in the two wines. Amarone tends to be a higher priced wine due to the rasinate process; as this process concentrates the sugar by drying out the grapes, you get much less juice left over and therefore it is more expensive to make.

The Remo Farina Amarone was the star of the show. A number of Wine Club members gushed over how good this wine was. The wine was described in a number of ways but chocolate aroma and taste was very common, as well as cherry.

I brought in a collection of cheeses and Italian cold cuts. Both wines worked well with the range of cheese though I wasn’t keen on the taste of the Amarone with the Blue Cheese. The Valpolicella wasn’t big enough to stand up to all the different cheeses and meats and occasionally was getting lost against a couple of the cheeses.

It was fun trying two wines made from the same grapes but processed differently. You could taste the common elements between the two wines but the Amarone was a much bigger, full-bodied wine. Sort of like a light beer vs. a regular beer. Both wines were very enjoyable for their price points, though it is almost unfair to compare a wine against a wine that is more than 3 times its price.

Cheers!

Mark.