The Valpolicella wine region

You may not think of Valpolicella as one of the great wine regions of Italy, but think again. Amarone, its concentrated, cellar worthy red, ranks as high on the prestige ladder as Brunello di Montalcino and Barolo.

Valpolicella, the gorgeous, hilly region between Verona and the pre-Alps, is bordered to the west by the beautiful Lake Garda. It looks to Venice for its cultural identity and is steeped in natural beauty and architectural wonder.

From a winemaking point of view, it represents something of an anomaly. Appassimento, the art of air-drying grapes before pressing them into wine, is a unique tradition and is the technique responsible for the distinctive richness, intensity and opulence you will find in wines like Amarone, Ripasso and Recioto (a dessert wine).

Valpolicella hasn’t always been synonymous with quality. As our own wine culture developed in the United States 30 or so years ago, we embraced Valpolicella’s basic red wine (called “Valpolicella”) because it was cheap and went down easily. “We’ve suffered from an inferiority complex compared to Tuscany and Piedmont,” says the current president of the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella, Luca Sartori. “We’ve now moved past that barrier.”

Changes in the region, fueled by three main factors, helped the region claim its identity alongside its famous neighbors. The first is a generational shift that has resulted in an even mix between big, historic estates and small, up-and-coming producers. The second factor is recent investments in vineyards and wineries. Valpolicella is divided into two zones. Both the Classico zone (closer to Lake Garda) and the non-classico zone are dotted with construction sites and other signs of positive development.

The third factor is that Valpolicella makes wines that truly speak to the tastes of both European and American wine devotees. Thanks to appassimento, the grapes used in making Amarone lose much of their water content. The resulting wines are distinctively rich in flavor and power.

“Nowhere else in the world can you say that four different wines are made from the same vineyards, and in some cases the same grapes,” says Pierangelo Tommasi of Tommasi.

Thanks to special selections during harvest, one vineyard can produce fruit for the entry-level Valpolicella, for the intermediate wine Ripasso, for the dessert wine Recioto and for the top-shelf Amarone. “This means that Valpolicella has the natural flexibility to address all prices and all pocketbooks.”