AMARONE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER HAD. OR AT LEAST I HAVEN'T

Monday, August 14

Valpolicella. 

Quick, what do you think of?  Chances are, you think of an insipid light red wine from Bolla.  Or you may confuse it with its even more insipid cousin, Bardolino. 

Yet the Valpolicella region of Veneto, in the Northeast of Italy, has been transforming itself no less than the wine-making areas of southern Italy.  Recioto, the traditional dessert wine of the area, gave rise to the potent Amarone, and Amarone gave rise to Ripasso (a cheaper, more

food-friendly version of itself).  At the same time, the increased attention to quality has led to the planting of vineyards higher and higher into the hills and mountains around the valley, with lower yields and Guyot vine-training to bring the quality improvements home. 

This reinvention has been a necessity for the reasons all too familiar with the Italian wine scene: thousands of small to medium sized producers, a staggering variety of grapes and styles -- and a maze of labels and names that's hard for Italians to understand, let alone a wine retailer in Wisconsin or a consumer in Connecticut.

The variety of wine types and names is a double-edged sword, a marketing nightmare but a dream for people like me who love to explore "new" producers and discover great wines.  After all, as Aristide tells the people we meet in the cantine that we visit, "Terry Hughes e' l'ambasciatore del vino italiano in America." (Your humble servant is the ambassador of Italian wine in America.)  Well, I do what I can.  It's a task that I've assumed with passion and a sense of long-term commitment.

Anyway, as your diplomatic presence in Valpolicella, ladies and gentlemen of the United States, I am happy to report on a most extraordinary find today, not three miles from where I am typing out this post, overlooking the valley and the mountains of this renascent denominazione di origine controllata. 

Thanks to Lizzy and Giampiero, we met with Daniele Accordini of the Azienda Agricola Stefano Accordini for what was supposed to be a brief tour and tasting.  Almost three hours later, during which time Daniele's son was repeatedly sent by his mother to find out exactly when his father was coming to pranzo (the big meal of the day, just as it was in America when I were a wee lad), we had run through seven wines, including a barrique tasting of the 2004 Amarone (an experiment with American oak!).

Daniele, the winemaker or enologo, and his brother Tiziano run the firm now.  We met their father briefly, too.  Interestingly, their total annual production is about the same as the Pietrantonjs' down in Abruzzo (60,000 bottles).  This makes them a respectable player in Italy, artisanal in nature but commercially viable, which is apparent in the use of expensive new French barriques and their own bottling facility.  This Accordini firm (there are several in the area with the same surname) has a healthy export market to the US (especially California and New York), Russia, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium and Japan. 

Daniele talked at length about his firm's push for improved quality as expressed in -- what else -- terroir.  They began with land in the valley, have gradually moved up into the hillsides and are now acquiring more land in the nearby mountains.  The 2004 Amarone that we barrel-tested came from a new vineyard at 500 meters.  Of course, yields are lower up there, but the vines are less subject to botrytis (not the good kind, as he explained).  And as everywhere, Accordini is moving from tendone to the Guyot discipline of vines.  Lower yields, higher quality fruit.

I won't spend time transcribing notes or describing impressions of all the wines we tasted; suffice to say that it was the full range of wines from the region, from a basic and rather acidic Valpolicella Classico to Ripasso and so on up to two levels of Amarone.  I'm going right to the top wine, their cru (Il Fornetto), the firm's "super-Amarone."  If Amarone in general is the economic salvation of Valpolicella -- as it should be at US retail prices of at least $50-60 and up, way up -- then Accordini's Il Fornetto is an apotheosis. 

As with all Amarones, this one hit the nose with characteristic but unusually intense coffee and chocolate aromas.  At 16% it seemed a little too at first.  Overwhelming.  But with time, as it opened up, every sniff and taste revealed new flavors, new depths, more smoothness.  Raspberry.  Anise, a little.  Cherry, of course.  A thought I even detected a hint of mint, although I didn't want to say so aloud.  However it opened up in perfume and flavor, it was always rich, concentrated, powerful yet balanced.

I wish I were the exquisite tasting writer that Frederic Koeppel is, because he would have been able to write a precise sort of rhapsody about this wine.  I can tell you that all of us were stunned by its intensity and depth, its long long finish and its ability to develop in glass.  As we drove back to Lizzy's house, she told us that Daniele Accordini is known and respected locally for his consistency and high quality Amarone, even in difficult years.  In really bad years, of course, he doesn't make an Amarone at all.  He is also the president of the local cantina sociale (co-op) and of the regional association of winemakers.  With all those commitments, it's no wonder that, as Lizzy said, "His wife is a saint."

What food would best go with a wine of this power and character? 

The food of good conversation with friends.  As Daniele himself said, "This is a wine fuori pasto -- outside of meals -- for friends to share slowly and talk about.  A vino di conversazione."  I'd have to agree.  For a terrific food wine, I'd pick his Passo over his other Amarone.  The Passo has some of the same characteristics of Il Fornetto but at about a quarter the price.  (12 euros vs. 60 euros for Il Fornetto and 25 euros for the "basic" Amarone at the cantina; double those figures for retail sales in Italy.  God knows what they are in the States.)

We've had many good wines since we've come to Italy.  Il Fornetto was a strikingly individual wine of great character.  Unforgettable and unique.  We left with two bottles.  (One of which we gave to Aristide -- the least we can do!)

Chapeau to Lizzy for this memorable tasting.

Ken with a bottle of the booty.  Accordini Stefano, Il Fornetto 2000

Yes, folks, when I have a decent photo editor program again, I will be able to show you the label so you could recognize it in a wine shop -- and snap it up.

Comments

[Lizzy]

...and I didn't say you that Daniele Accordini is the president of regional winemakers association...and plays at rugby, too...and organizes important international meeting about wine...etc.etc. (he's not the president of Cantina sociale di Negrar: he is the winemaker!)

His wife Eleonora is really a GREAT woman!
Lizzy

[Fredric Koeppel]

Thank you for the plug, which was unnecessary but gratefully acknowledged.
On Valpolicella:
I was in Verona early in the 1990s, judging at VinItaly, and was having lunch in a restaurant on a street off the piazza, just behind the arena. I would have to dig through boxes of notes to find the name. The place was deserted; I was obviously dining earlier than the Veronese. It was, simply, one of the best lunches I have had in my life, in part because the food was so simple and impeccably fresh. Anyway, my waiter was an elderly gentleman who just brought a series of small courses to the table; no menu. He asked if I would like a bottle of Valpolicella, and (typical snob) I raised by eyebrows and snorted somewhat satirically. "No, no, senor," he responded, "not like the Valpolicella you get in the United States." At which he brought a bottle of a Valpolicella Superiore that was a revelation. I had not known that the corvina grape could produce a wine of such depth and flavor. I returned to my hotel after lunch, humbled, chastened -- and very satisfied.

[Terry Hughes]

Lizzy, thank you for reminding me of that. Carlo Boscaini gave me a book about Amarone that shows Daniele in a photo as presidente of the association. By the way, I hope we can give you some hospitality when you come to New York.

Fredric, esatto, as they say here. The wines that are exported are a different and often lower breed from what you get here. Blame it on the Bolla nova...

[Terry Hughes]

By the way, FK, the plug is well merited. You have a gift, old boy...

[Lizzy]

Non so quali e quanti disastri può aver fatto Bolla (?!) in America, se ancora oggi voi americani non volete saperne di bere Valpolicella e Soave. E' strano, perchè questa storica azienda fa degli ottimi vini, qui. Io credo che la colpa di questa fama così cattiva sia di altri. Comunque, anche se le vostre esperienze passate sono così negative, VI PREGO!! tornate ad assaggiare Valpolicella e Soave. Sono davvero cambiati. Oggi sono dei vini stupendi. Terry, tu hai assaggiato solo Valpolicella, Amarone e Recioto;la prossima volta (Vinitaly?) ti farò assaggiare Soave e Recioto di Soave.
Sarà una nuova rivelazione. Believe me!
Lizzy

[Terry Hughes]

Cara Lizzy, hai gia' assistito a una rivelazione per noi e sono certo che il Soave ce ne dara' altre. (Anticipo il Vinitaly eccome.)

E' purtroppo vero che la Bolla e' sinonomo, in America, per vini scialbi di nulla carattere / interesse. E' stato il loro successo e...il contrario a lungo termine.

Cmq, abbiamo gia' bevuto l'Amarone di Nicolis e un Soave che ha fatto l'enologo Paolo Caciorgna, cui nome purtroppo non mi ricordo (ma era ottimo!, tutti e due belli.

Ciao e grazie di nuovo, cara Lizzy!

[Lizzy]

Spero che quando tornerete in Italia abbiate un po' più di tempo...voglio portarvi a visitare il Soave, il suo castello, le colline, le cantine (!!). Per adesso, sono felice che vi siate trovati bene in Valpolicella. E' stato un onore e un piacere conoscerti, Terry,e farti assaggiare qualcuno dei miei vini preferiti. Grazie per la tua pazienza! Noi italiani siamo molto... pigri!. Anche quando conosciamo (male, come me!) l'inglese, preferiamo insegnare agli amici stranieri a parlare in italiano!!
Buon proseguimento in Italia
Lizzy

[carlo]

ciao,

noto che i miei vini non ti hanno entusiasmato.
Pazienza!!
Al vinitaly ti farò assaggiare anche i valpolicella superiore e ripasso.

Ti farò cambiare idea!!

Ciao Carlo

[Terry Hughes]

Carlo, allora, ci vedremo al Vinitaly, e i tuoi vini mi toglieranno le calze, nevvero? Ciao for now.

[Val]

Sono capitata nel tuo blog per caso e ho trovato subito qualcosa di molto interessante!
Essendo una giovane (and so lucky that I seem even younger-when I was in New York they sometimes asked me "Are you all alone?". I can't be trustworthy as donna in carriera...) piccola produttrice di Soave posso testimoniare in prima persona lo sforzo che tanti come noi stanno facendo per comunicare che a Soave molto è cambiato. Il clima è effervescente, ci sono giovani che vogliono cambiare le cose, la qualità è spesso davvero elevata, c'è entusiasmo e voglia di fare...
Sicuramente tornerò presto a leggerti (bello il tuo blog!) e spero di beccare prima o poi un tuo post sulle interpretazioni del Soave che ti hanno convinto.

[Terry Hughes]

Benvenuta, Val! Mi piacerebbe assaggiare i tuoi vini...un giorno. Assisterai al Vinitaly?

E grazie per il complimento. Ci vedremo su Internet...

[Val]

Il Vinitaly...caspita, si sta già avvicinando...Comunque sì, ci sarò eccome! Ti manderò con piacere le mie "coordinate", così se torni a trovare Daniele (Accordini) -a proposito, condivido quanto avete scritto su di lui, è un grande enologo e una mente vulcanica, nonchè un caro amico di famiglia- sarà un'onore aprirti le porte del mio stand ;-)

[Terry Hughes]

Benissimo, anticipo il nostro incontro.

Allora, conoscerai la brava Lizzy, no?

[Val]

La vedo spesso ai diversi eventi, degustazioni, fiere, ecc. ma non mi sono mai presentata...però leggo sempre con piacere quello che scrive su carta e su blog.