Rick’s Skinny [email protected] March 2015 “The Truth Comes Out When the Spirit Goes In!” (Old Irish Saying)

Amo ! (I love Amarone) The finished product is an exquisitely deep, OK…just for the record, Amarone – pronounced dark, rich, and luxuriant …with layers of ah-mah-ROH-nay – is not a pasta! It’s a distinctive flavors. Needless to say…it takes wine…duh…and after Barolo, Barbaresco and considerably more , effort and time to Brunello…it’s one of ’s top five best and make Amarone, so another special trait is its most famous . The fifth best price…and you can expect to pay between $40 would arguably be a so-called Super Tuscan -- and $100 for this bad boy…but oh is it worth it! and it would likely come from either Sassicaia or Tenuta dell’Ornaiella. But I digress. This is Typically, Amarone is crafted from a blend of about Amarone…which is my favorite Italian , and grapes and is wine! Don’t get me wrong…I love’em all…but if made in the Viticultural Area of the I could only have one Italian wine…it would be an Amarone…and you can pick the producer!

Why is Amarone so special? Well, for one thing…from my spot on the bench, this Veronese wine from Valpolicella is the single most flavorful and tasty wine in all of Italy…and hey, lest there be doubt, the last time I checked, Region, second only to Italia has a boatload of tasty wines! The second Tuscany’s in amount of wine produced. reason it’s so special is its history….having been discovered by accident…a mistake actually. So the story goes…a farmer who was making an ancient and very popular known as Recioto – screwed up and left a barrel of Recioto to fully ferment – which allowed all of the sugary

nectar to be converted to alcohol. This produced a full bodied, dry wine instead of a dessert wine. . Mistake or not, the result was a gorgeously Then…There’s Baby Amarone! distinctive and delicious – Amarone! And just so you don’t go away disappointed or mad – ‘cuz you’re like me and don’t enjoy Aside from those two distinguishing attributes, plunking down $50 to $75 for a wine…even a Amarone is also special because of the way it’s special wine, then boy do I have some great made…via a technique known as appassimento. news! You can get an “Amarone-like” wine for This is a method where grapes are intentionally around $15 to $20! They’re known as Ripasso dried and allowed to raisin…such that sugars wines and they’re made using the left-over and flavors become intensely concentrated. (skins and must) that were used in making Amarone! So one gets a lot of the flavor, essence and character of Amarone – but at a bargain basement price! They’re often referred to as Baby Amarones…so hunt one down and enjoy one of Italy’s best wines…and best kept secrets! Toast of the Month “Here’s to Eternity…May it last Forever!” (Old Irish Toast)

The Monthly Bunch! Amarone-like aromas and flavors! Masi has taken this a bit further and created a proprietary double Red fermentation process that integrates both fresh and Blends raisined fruit of the same typically used for Santi Amarone Della Valpolicella 2008 making Amarone, and the result is a spellbinding Decadently Rich, Scrumptious & Succulent! wine that truly rivals the nature and character of (Illasi, Italy)/$30-$45 – Next to “Barolo or Amarone. This luscious is comprised of Barbaresco” -- Amarone is probably the next most 70% Corvina, 25% Rondinella and 5% Molinara coveted Italian red wine. Hailing from the Veneto grapes and it was aged for 18 months in mostly region (Valpolicella DOCG) and comprised of 65% Slavonian barristas with a third being aged in Corvina, 30% Rondinella and 5% Molinara grapes, barriques sourced from Allier, France. Pasta and this unique wine is made from totally dried (i.e. veal couldn’t have a better mate! Über delicious! raisined) grapes. This dried grape wine-making http://www.masi.it/eng/ process is known as Appassimento -- where fully ripened grapes are dried for 90 to 120 days until Altos de Luzón 2009 raisined. This is the technique that gives Amarone A 3D Wine for Sure…Deep, Dark & Delicious! its very distinctive bouquet and inimitable taste. (Jumilla, Spain)/$14-$18 – Wow what a wine! If This vintage was aged for 3 years in a combination you like an inky, complex and beautifully balanced of French Allier barriques and Slovenian oak wine with flavor that just keeps evolving and casks…and it’s not uncommon for some Amarone getting better with every sip…then look no further! to be aged in for up to five years! Italian wine lore This blend of 50% Monastrell, 25% Cabernet has it that the first Amarone was actually a Sauvignon and 25% is all of that and mistake…and resulted from grapes that were more! The blend might seem a bit unusual for a allowed to fully ferment into a dry wine…instead of …but it’s becoming more common to having fermentation stopped so there would be see Spanish blends incorporate the use of Bordeaux sufficient residual sugar to make a sweeter dessert varietals…especially and wine known as Recioto. These days, Amarone and . To preserve and feature its fruit-forward Recioto are both highly prized by wine aficionados character, this vintage was aged for 12 months in a from all over the world…and Santi’s expressions 55% - 45% split of French and American oak. are among the best values available! http://www.bodegasluzon.com/ingles/ http://frederickwildman.com/national/winery/santi White Masi Campofiorin Rosso del Veronese 2011 Godello (Spain’s “Great White Hope”!) Like Amarone at 1/4 the price…Awesome wine! Benaza 2012 Crisp, Fruit-forward & Dee-lish! (, Italy)/$15-$18 – This IGT red wine is the (Monterrei D. O. -- Galicia, Spain)/$12-$14 original Super Venetian – a descriptor that was This is a tantalizing and delicious wine crafted by coined by Masi Agricola back in 1964. It has Alvaro Bueno, one of Spain’s super-talented and evolved to be a common term for a class of universally acclaimed winemakers. This luscious distinctive wines that taste similar to Amarone – but swill is 80% Godello with kisses of blending grapes whose price points are considerably less. In Dona Blanca and Treixadura. Un-oaked and general, these wines are made by a process called unfiltered, it was aged for a brief few months sur lie Ripasso – where left-over (grape skins and (on the lees) which adds a hint of burnt-sugar lees) used in making Amarone is re-used during charm! Try this with grilled scallops! To die for! fermentation, thereby imparting subtle, raisined, http://www.josepastorselections.com/