Super Amarone Wine Tasting Featuring Quintarelli, Bertani and more...

“The only way of rendering life endurable is to drink as much wine as one can come by.”

- James Branch Cabell, Beyond Life

We are doing our best here at Wine Watch to make life endurable and with a highly effective wine like Amarone you don’t need as much, so now I can retitle my book: “The 1 and ½ Bottle per Day Wine Diet”

The region Valpolicella just north of the town of Verona produces one of Italy’s most unique wines in all of Italy and all of the world.  They use a process call appassimento where they dry the grapes until the become almost like raisins before crushing them to ferment and make into wine.  This drying of the grapes concentrates the juice and produces a wine that has a few extra points of alcohol and makes a more fruity full bodied style of wine that is not for the faint of palate. 

Every year we host a few events that feature the best wines that this region of Italy has to offer that focus on this unique style of production.  We try to bring you the best from he past and the new generation of top producers pushing the envelope of quality.  This year we have a new discovery to showcase which doesn’t carry the DOCG name Amarone on the bottle but is a dead ringer for an Amarone in a blind tasting.  This new wine from Garbole named the 'hurlo' Rosso an IGT from the Veneto is the new breed of “Cult Amarone” that we are showing for the first time at this event. 

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 reservations if you have any food allergies and chef Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

Super Amarone Wine Tasting
Friday, April 14th
7:30pm

1964 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Veneto, Italy
1985 Luigi Righetti Capitel De' Roari, Amarone della Valpolicella Recioto Classico DOCG, Italy
1988 Paolo Boscaini Marano, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Italy
1990 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Veneto, Italy
1993 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG Veneto, Italy
1995 Luigi Righetti Capitel De' Roari, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Italy
1997 Le Ragose Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Veneto, Italy
1997 Masi Costasera, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Italy
2003 Quintarelli, Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva Classico DOCG, Italy
2011 Tommaso Bussola TB Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva DOCG, Veneto, Italy
2013 Garbole 'Hurlo' Rosso Veneto IGT Italy

Menu
Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie
Beet and Blue Cheese Salad with Harpke Farms Baby Greens, Candied Walnuts and Aged Balsamic
Amarone Braised Beef Shortrib served over Amarone Risotto with Blue Cheese Toast
Chocolate crème Brulee with blueberry jam

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 reservations if you have any dietary restrictions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

A bit about Amarone and Valpolicella:

Valpolicella, according to some accounts, means “valley of many cellars,” which seems fitting.  It is derived, they say, from the Greek word poli (many) and the Latin cella (cellar).   This area is approximately 27 miles long and 5 miles wide, it passes north and west of Verona, extending from the Adige River to the Cazzano Valley.  Bardolino and Lake Garda lie to the west and Soave to the east.  The land ranges in altitude from 490 to 1,475 feet above sea level.  The vines in the classico district to the northwest of Verona, are planted on the hillsides and mountain slopes of the valleys of the Adige tributaries and the Fumane, Marano, and Negrar torrents.  Some of the vineyards are terraced with stone.  The cretaceous, calcareous soil is of glacial origins.  And volcanic activity in this area contributed elements to the soil as well. 

The area around Sant’Ambrogio is considered the heart of the Amarone production zone.  Within this area, northeast of Gargagnago, is a valley called Vaio Armaron, which may have given the wine its name.   The blend of grapes typically used in Valpolicella is Corvina (40%-70%), Rondinella (20%-40%), Molinara (5%-25%) and may contain up to 15% Negrara Trentina, Rossignola, Dindarella, Barbera, and/or Sangiovese.  Before 1989 producers were allowed to add as much as 15% of grapes, must, or wine from outside the zone to correct problems from a weak vintage, but this practice is prohibited today.  Corvina contributes color, body, bouquet, flavor, and the basic Valpolicella character to the wine.   Rondinella, which is resistant to disease and rot, is added for its color and strength, tannin and vigor, it also adds some refinement to the azromas.  Molinara, or Mulinara, is also known as Rossara Veronese and Rossanella, is blended in to make the wine lighter and more drinkable.  It also contributes dryness and acidity, as well as that characteristic bitterness.  Negrara, adds softness, freshness and early drinkability.

The first dry Amarone, according to writer Cesare Marchi, was the result of a fortunate accident.  In the early 1950s, Adelino Lucchese, Bertani’s cellarmaster, discovered a barrel of wine in the cellar that had been overlooked and neglected for some time.  Certain that it had spoiled he was about to discard its contents, when curiosity prompted him to take a taste just to see what had happened.  He was astonished to discover that the forgotten wine had a velvety texture and a penetrating perfume, a slightly bitter taste, but not at all unpleasant.

There is however evidence that the Romans made a type of bitter Recioto for diabetics or other people who couldn’t take sugar.  Sandro Boscaini of Masi pointed out that some of the oldest families in Valpolicella, the Count Campostrini and Count Serego Alighieri, as well as his own produced an Amaro, a dry Recioto.  This would seem to indicate that Amarone is considerably older that Marchi admits.  According to another book called Valpolicella Spolendida Contea Dei Vino, written by Lamberto Paronetto, the name Amarone has been in use since the eighteenth century.  It became popular at the beginning of this century and the name could very well be derived from the Italian word amaro, meaning “bitter” (scholar Scipione Maffei, writing in the first half of the eighteenth century, refers to an amaro, a dry wine from the Valpolicella area), or it could come from Vajo Armaron, where some highly regarded Amarones have been produced for ages.

The Newest “Cult Wine” from Verona

2013 GARBOLE 'HURLO' ROSSO VENETO IGT ITALY
Price: $425.00   Sale Price: $350.00

The 2013 Hurlo contains the four classical Amarone varietals, with the addition of a very rare local grape (producer's secret). Aged 9 years in brand new small French oak barrels.  All of the excellence of GARBOLE is concentrated in this rare and precious LIMITED EDITION (1500 bottle production) 2013 vintage wine which represents the best of made in GARBOLE, and one of the best Italian and world wines. A unique wine that resembles Amarone but is a new representation of wines from the Veneto, a new breed unto itself this wine needs to be experienced to be believed.

Each bottle of the HURLO'13 is the product of 25 years of thinking and 130 years of history. The HURLO originates from a liberating scream of joy and well-being. Never repeated in next vintages .

Because the Hurlo '13 is a work of art that represents creative freedom, it cannot be locked up within any disciplinary rule, or a technical sheet, or any other pre-established pattern. Hurlo'13 is a meta wine, a meta amarone wine. Diverse raw materials (grapes), each one containing its own history are mixed and contrasted with each other to achieve a final balance, harmony and complexity in the dance of their fluid and natural metamorphosis.

A dense and impenetrable color anticipates and reveals the substance from which sinuous, sensual, soft and elegant forms are born.