Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1061132
{ SOMMjournal.com } 95 1967: This vintage is cited along- side 1964 as the warmest of the decade due in large part to a dry, hot summer ; its wines weren't bottled until the beginning of the 1980s. With notes of faded potpourri, dried plum, walnut, amaro, and celery salt, it's an umami- driven wine in which the alcohol provided fuel for longevity. The acid- ity remains precise. 1975: Although 1975 is not considered a great vintage, Lonardi cited it as one of his favorites largely due to it being a cooler year. Pale and Pinot Noir–like, the wine showed orange peel, walnut, and leather notes while being quite linear. "Bertani has been considered the Burgundy of Valpolicella," Gaiser said. 1981: Bottled after spending a decade in casks, this expressive and richly textured wine features hints of dried plums, walnut, anise, and mocha bolstered by dusty tannins. "Appassimento is an oxidative process, but the aging process of Amarone is reduc- tive," said Lonardi. "There is always a percentage of press wine in the final blend that brings tannins to the wine." 1998: Bottled in 2005, this vintage is a more oxidative style dominated by black cherry and extracted darker fruits. Lonardi noted that it was "too warm at harvest," resulting in a powerful nose. However, it shows muscle, remark- able structure, and persistence. 2005: Although the vintage suf- fered from hail, resulting in the lowest yields of the past 20 years, Lonardi credits the 2005 as the "most valuable wine for the future." Com- pared by the panel to the 2010 for structure, power, and verticality, it features a distinct evolution of aro- mas and gives an overall impression of being seamless and complete. Balanced and fresh, it shows a mélange of tea, coffee, sweet tobacco, and cocoa. 2008: This highly aromatic, rich, and red-fruited yet elegant wine was bottled in 2016. "You can form a precise idea of the architecture of the wine," Lonardi sur- mised while tasting. Chocolate tannins, truffle, and bal- samic notes with a core of strawberry compote and or- ange peel precede lingering hints of freshly roasted coffee. Vibrancy reigns. tions—pointed to the range of styles and distinctly different ex- pressions achieved by various producers. "In Amarone production there are 10,000 ways of doing the same thing," he said. Cronin also made an unexpected pop-culture reference during the event, noting that Hannibal Lecter enjoyed an Amarone with his dish of liver in Thomas Harris' novel. Demonstrating Character Acinaticum, a wine made from dried grapes beginning in the fifth century, is believed to be the precursor to the sweet wine Recioto della Valpolicella, from which Amarone was created. "The method for making Amarone may be easy to copy," Lonardi said of the appassimento method, "but you cannot copy the place." To create the elegant, Burgundian-style wines Bertani is known for, Lonardi oversees a long, cool drying period spanning more than 100 days that allows the finished wine to better demon - strate the character of the vintage. Bertani is one of very few producers carrying on this traditional and natural method, in which grapes are left to rest on the "arèle" (racks made from bamboo canes) in the drying room. There, they dry naturally and slowly without the use of any type of device to remove humidity. "If your temperature during drying is too warm, you lose water too quickly and get concentration of sugars but not complex flavors," Lonardi explained. Lonardi prefers these dry, cool conditions—with tempera - tures below 10 degrees Celsius—to better showcase a site like the Ognissanti, an estate cru that took its name from a church belonging to the Saint Thomas Aquinas friars. It also enables him to demonstrate how the soils affect the finished wines. "Bertani doesn't manipulate the wines to create a market-driven style," Granoff said as he remarked on Amarone's ability to show vintage character with age. "With Bertani Amarone, people pay attention and recognize this style of wine for what it is and what it should be," Lonardi added. Tasting Through the Years with Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella