Bertani Amarone Wine Tasting back to the 1964 Vintage

“Sometimes it would be nice to just have some red wine with dinner, but it’s not worth the risk. I have a great life, a great situation. Why would I want to risk self-destructive behavior?”

Kristin Davis

 If wine with dinner is destructive then I am a wrecking ball!! 

I love Italian wines.  It is hard to believe that when I bought the store 27 years ago we only had 4 different Italian labels on the shelf.  Today, we have one of the greatest collections of Barolos, Barbarescos, Super Tuscans, Chianti, and of course Amarone available not only in South Florida but anywhere in the world!

We just received an incredible collection of vintage Amarone that included several vintages of one of our favorite Amarone producers wines, yes I am referring to the winery that invented Amarone- Bertani.  That means it’s time to do some serious scientific work here and tonight we have Bertani back to the legendary 1964 vintage! 

Bertani is an old school producer of Amarone, they don't have temperature controlled drying rooms like most of the modern Amarone producers today.  They feel that the weather is one of the characteristics that determines the style of the vintage.  Tonight, we have 8 vintages of this great producers wine on the table spanning the last 6 decades. 

The price of this event which includes dinner is $395 per person + tax.  For reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservation if you have any dietary restrictions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

Bertani Amarone Wine Tasting back to the 1964 Vintage

Saturday, January 10th 

7:30pm

1964 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Veneto, Italy

1990 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Veneto, Italy

1993 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG Veneto, Italy

1994 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG Veneto, Italy

1996 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG Veneto, Italy

1997 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG Veneto, Italy

2008 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG Veneto, Italy

2012 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG Veneto, Italy

Menu

Selection of Charcuterie and Cheese

Hudson Valley Foie Gras Frozen Served Over Beef Consumee

Amarone Pasta with fresh shaved Reggiano Parmesan

Prosciutto Wrapped Iberico Pork Loin served over Black Bean Puree with Pepper Salsa

Chocolate Crème Brulee

The fee for this tasting which includes Dinner is $395 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservation if you have any dietary restrictions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

A bit about Bertani Winery:

Some wine writers would lead you to believe that Amarone was created by accident some time in the early 1950’s and it is the dry version of ancient Recioto (Acinaticum, as it was called in the early ‘Dark Ages’ by Cassiodorus of the Longobards)  This is not the case.  Amarone is an old style of wine which has only recently come into fashion.

One of the most important aspects of harvesting grapes is the level of ripeness or sugar content.  This will determine what style of wine is made.  Some wine regions of the world will allow grapes to go beyond maturity into a partly shriveled state.  In Italy this practice is most widely practiced in Veneto, where wines like Soave, Gambellara, and Valpolicella live. You will often see the term “Recioto” preceding the aforementioned names.  Recioto is a dialect word for ears, in this case the “ears” or protruding upper portion of the grape bunch, that are selected for this process because they have the best exposure to the sun, they are the ripest.

In Italy, when a producer makes a “Recioto”, or other wines from partially dried berries, the drying takes place after the grapes have been picked.  The bunches are spread out, indoors, on straw or wire-bottomed palates, to be crushed within one month or, sometimes, several months later.  One consequence of this process is that the berries water content evaporates, concentrating the juice and increasing the proportion of sugar to pulp.  During this drying process, other more complex transformations take place, some of the acids are lost, others created, and different sugar compounds formed.  The end product is a more intense, aromatic, full-bodied wine, richer in alcohol, glycerin, and sugar.

Amarone at its best is not just one of the best red wines coming from Italy, but one of the top red wines made in the world.  The quality of Amarones has improved vastly over the last decade and one of the leaders of this quality revolution is Bertani.  Bertani has been steadily improving the quality of all of its wines.  They have been considered one of the top producers of Amarone for decades; today the vast improvement of this property is most evident in their innovative wines.  The most interesting of these is a concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon from a vineyard at their Novare estate.

The Bertani estate was founded in 1857 and is still family owned and operated.  They harvest grapes from four separate vineyard sites.   Their Tenuta di Novare, which has 185 acres planted in the Valle di Novare, including three crus:  Monteriondo, Ognis-santi, and Sereole.  They also own the Saccole vineyard in Grezzana in the Valpantena district, the Casetto cru in Bardolino, and a vineyard Monteforte in Soave.  This last vineyard is planted with pinot grigio, chardonnay, and cabernet sauvignon.  The line-up at Bertani includes:  an excellent Amarone Classico Superiore, two Valpolicellas- one from the Valpantena zone which they label Secco-Bertani, and a second Classico Superiore, a vino da tavola ripasso Catullo, a Recioto Spumante, also from the Valpantena area, and a Soave.

The grapes for the Bertani Amarones are processed- crushed and fermented- at their Novare winery.  When the wine is separated from the skins it still contains .04 percent (4 grams per liter) of residual sugar.  It is then moved to oak casks.  Gaetano Bertani says that the Amarone continues to ferment a little, on and off for four to five years.  They produce only 25 – 30 casks per vintage; this amounts to about 5,000 cases.  After the wine finishes fermenting and is dry, it is moved to their other winery, where it is blended to make up the final cuvee.