Appreciating Amarone

How about trying an Amarone the next time you are looking for a wine to drink with some quality beef from the BBQ?

If you are just throwing on some sausages or burgers, then an inexpensive, big, bold red from almost anywhere will have the punch to hold up to the big and bold BBQ flavours.When your choice is a roasted striploin, or some juicy T-bones seared with the perfect grill marks, you would be justified to be more particular in your wine selection.

Ordinary beef is not particularly rich in flavours. One of the advantages of the BBQ to me – charcoal or gas – with all its possibilities for flash searing, indirect cooking, wood chip smokiness, mops and sauces, and more, is that it can seriously elevate the taste of the meat. Hearty flavours and textures require equally weighty wines of full body and forward tastes. And if you are spending that much on your cut of beef, you might as well spend a little more on your wine match too.

This is where Amarone comes in. This wine from the Veneto region of northern Italy is a “straw” wine. Such wines are made by drying the harvested bunches for a period of time before crushing and fermentation. In the old days the drying was carried out on straw mats, but special drying chambers with controlled conditions are used now in modern times. Drying the grapes reduces the water content and concentrates the flavour components. It also increases the amount and length of skin contact which is vital for imparting colour, tannins, and flavour components from the skins into the wine. The sugar percentage in the grapes also increases, supporting higher alcohol levels.

Amarone della Valpolicella is a DOCG wine made from the same grapes as “normal” Valpolicella: mainly Corvina with Corvinone, Rondinella, Molinara and other approved grape varieties. At one time the method was regularly used to produce a sweet “recioto” wine where fermentation was stopped before all the sugars were consumed. In the latter half of the last century wine-makers realized the potential of a dry wine produced by encouraging fermentation to convert all the sugars.The result, Amarone, is a full-bodied, full-flavoured wine with a minimum 14% alcohol, smooth tannins and moderate acidity. The flavours are rich with figs, dark chocolate, mocha, and raisin – perhaps you can see the connection with a grilled steak which has been finished with some special sauce?

Many Amarone’s are aged for as much as five years before sale, so they are usually ready to drink when purchased. The best ones and the best years likely require even more time to reach their peak. Through the generosity of a friend I was able to enjoy a bottle this weekend of the Masi 1995 which combines both a reputable producer and a banner vintage. The wine was sumptuous – a fully developed tertiary bouquet, mouth-filling, mocha and raisin flavours dominating – and just perfect with my T-bone!

There are three Amarone’s available at the NLC (Masi, Bolla, and Tommasi) for prices in the mid to high $40 range. The prices reflect the extra effort involved in the selection of the best grapes and preventing the onset of rot in the grapes before fermentation begins. The drying process reduces harvest weights by about one-third further pushing up production costs. Even so, treat yourself next time you indulge on the BBQ with an equally indulgent Amarone!