Valentine’s Day doesn’t always mean red roses and candlelit dinners with that special someone. For me, this year, I celebrated an early Valentine’s Day in a very special way, with the woman who taught me what love was all about, my mom. My family and I surprised her for her birthday, bringing dinner and dessert while enjoying a special bottle of a 2004 Luigi Righetti Amarone Della Valpolicella.
As we pulled the cork on this 20-year-old bottle, I couldn’t help but think of all the memories we shared over the years including our travels to this special region of the Veneto where Amarone Della Valpolicella is produced, although this wasn‘t one of the bottles that we brought back with us. I’m actually still sitting on those and it’s been quite a while since we traveled there together. More to come on those gems.
Luigi Righetti winery
Luigi Righetti winery is located in Valgatara, within the Valpolicella Classico zone, just outside the town of Marano. Angelo Righetti established the winery back in 1909 and today it is run by the 5th generation, Gianmaria and Giuseppe, along with their father Luigi who is still active in the winery today assisting in running the operations. Luigi originally took over winemaking in the 40’s. In 1985 Gianmaria began to focus on single vineyard productions and making wines that would carry an international appeal.
About Amarone della Valpolicella wines
The Valpolicella wine region, where Amarone is produced, stretches from Lake Garda in the east that borders Lombardy towards the wine territory of Soave and north of Verona. Amarone wines are some of the most distinctive and prestigious wines of Italy. They are powerful, concentrated, structured and complex with a fascinating production process which includes the drying of grapes known as the appassimento process.
Amarone translates to ”little bitter one”. Its counterpart from the same region is another wine known as Recioto Della Valpolicella. While the fermentation process of Amarone carries on for a lengthy time, the fermentation process for the wines of Recioto della Valpolicella is stopped for these wines to retain a higher level of sugar. 
copyright of the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella
The grapes used in the production of Amarone can vary based on the producer, but include 45-95% Corvina and/or Corvinone for its acidity, body, and cherry flavors, 5-30% Rondinella for its tannin and color and up to 25% of other grapes including Molinara.
What is the appassimento process? It is the drying process of the grapes that takes place in drying rooms known as the fruttaio where the grapes are laid out in crates or straw mats. They are left there for about 100-120 days until about the January/February timeframe. This process, as you can imagine, concentrates the sugars and dries the grapes, making them more raisin like. Following this process, the grapes are then vinified for another 30-50 days for a slow fermentation of the grapes due to the high sugar content. They are then aged for 2 years in oak or 4 years in oak if they are riserva. The end result are wines that are dry and complex with a high alcohol content climbing around 15-17%.
One of the wineries I visited way back showing the appassimento process
How to travel to the Valpolicella wine region
If you have yet to travel to the Valpolicella wine region, it’s a short trip outside Verona. To reach it’s southern borders, you are only a few miles outside the city. To get to the historic heart of the Valpolicella wine region, the Valpolicella Classico zone, it will take you about 20-30 minutes north of Verona into the hills of towns like Marano, Fumane, Negrar, Sant’ Ambrogio di Valpolicella and San Pierre in Cariano to name a few.
The Wine
It was interesting to see the bottle of Amarone from Luigi Righetti labeled as an Amarone DOC. The designation wasn’t upgraded to a DOCG until 2010.
This bottle of Capitel de’ Roari Amarone was produced from various plots of lands with the best grapes selected for this blend. The grapes are dried until the January/February time frame and then fermented in steel basins until July/August. It is then aged for 3 years in part oak barrels and part French barrique.
The 2004 Luigi Righetti Capitel de’ Roari Amarone DOC Classico was more brick in color, mostly due to its age. Rich in dried fruits aromas. Full-bodied with concentrated notes of cherries and raspberries with a slight herbal note. A solid backbone acidity still stood with over 20 years of age on this wine, and the tannins had become quite silky. It took some time for this to open up so always make sure you give these wines their due. ABV 15%, SRP $40 (some of the newer bottles I saw were priced)
I couldn’t find a specific technical sheet on the blend used in this particular vintage, but some of the more recent vintages include 80% Corvina and 20% Rondinella. For those of you that are savvy
Amarone wines are highly age worthy, and I've found that no matter the age, they all will benefit with some time opened in advance or watch it evolve in the glass while tasting which is always fun.
This month our World Wine Travel group (#WorldWineTravel) is featuring Valentine wines from around the world. Read the variety of other selections this Valentine's Day and choose one to try for yourself.
A Love Letter to Wine by Side Hustle Wino
Chef's Private Dinner at our Resort in Mexico by Our Good Life
Fair Verona and the Romance of Valpolicella from Crushed Grape Chronicles
J'aime partager le vin et la vie avec vous from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Pretty in Pink: Italian Wines Paired with International Flavors by Culinary Cam
Valentine's Day Wines: A Wine for Everyone to Love by Wineivore
You can find other Amarone della Valpolicella wines to try on Wine.com. I may receive compensation for any wines purchased through the affiliate link in support of the operations of Vino Travels.
Also, in light of Valentine's Day, if you didn't know I had written a book on my husband and I's wedding that I planned in Tuscany called "Planning Your Dream Wedding in Tuscany". If you know someone looking to get married in Italy or just want to check it out, you can find it on Amazon for sale.
No comments:
Post a Comment