Dry Up And Make Amarone

Amarone della Valpolicella is a rich Italian wine made from dried grapes.  The heightened  flavors, aromas, color and tannins of Amarone owe everything to its production technique.  A bottle of Masi Costasera Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2009, was provided by a public relations firm for review.

Masi owner Raffaele Boscaini is the seventh generation to run his family's wine estate.  The Masi website calls Amarone a "modern wine with an ancient heart."  It is imported in the US by Kobrand.  The wine has a slightly higher alcohol content than many wines - 15% abv - and it retails for $63.

Senior editor Alison Napjus, of Wine Spectator, says, "What’s impressive about Amarone is that it's a wine that can be enjoyed in its youth - it's very personable - and it also has the capacity to age, and a lot of that has to do with the production technique, appassimento."

In appassimento, the bunches of grapes - Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara - are placed in trays to dry out.  They spend several months in this drying process.  The grapes are left lighter and more concentrated after the loss of that water weight.

The  2009 Costasera Amarone della Valpolicella Classico had a broken cork, but it was pushed down into the bottle without much of a problem and with no serious floaties.  The palate shows beautiful dried meat and dried fruit, roasted coffee beans, cherry, black olive and spices - mainly clove.  The tannins are quite prominent, as is everything else about this wine which Will Not Be Ignored.  It really overmatched the pasta and red sauce, but hit a good mark with the Buffalo Gorgonzola.  However, drinking this wine with cheese is like using a Ferrari to drive the two blocks to the store.  Have a steak.


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