Amarone: New Releases

BY IAN D’AGATA | MAY 10, 2017

Amarone della Valpolicella is about as distinctive as red wine gets. Of the world’s major reds sought out by consumers and collectors, Amarone is the only wine that is made by air-drying the grapes for months prior to pressing them. It’s the air-drying, or appassimento, of grapes that gives Amarone many – but not all – of its distinctive qualities.

A view from the Quintarelli terrace, Negrar

A Word About the Appassimento Method

 Clearly, the air-drying process by which Amarone is made brings about changes in the grapes that result in a wine with distinct characteristics. First, thanks to the dehydration of the berries and the loss of water, appassimento creates luscious, concentrated wines that are often characterized by slight residual sweetness and high alcohol. However, truly great Amarones are essentially dry wines; in fact, most estates report that their finished wines contain less than five or six grams per liter of residual sugar. Rather than actual sweetness, the best Amarones offer what Sandro Boscaini of Masi calls “an illusion of sweetness” that results from the increase in glycerol molecules during the air-drying process (and even more so in vintages in which the grapes are affected by noble rot). It is these molecules that typically give Amarones their luscious, tactile mouthfeel.

Recent research studies tell us  that the appassimento process is far more complex than initially believed. Most competent producers have long been aware that appassimento is not about air-drying just any grapes. For example, air-drying physiologically unripe grapes is of no interest whatsoever, as this would concentrate both the green elements in the grapes as well as the sugars and other flavor molecules present, inevitably leading to the production of powerful but unbalanced wines marred by a vegetal streak. Research has shown air-drying to be especially well-suited to Corvina, the grape variety that makes up roughly 70% of the typical Amarone blend (especially nowadays, as Corvinone is being used less and less). However, it has also shown the process to be much less suited to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which explains why air-drying grapes does not quite yield the same magical results when used with other grape varieties outside of Veneto.