Recioto del Amarone in 2014
Having just written up my notes on Amarone I thought I’d might as well quickly follow up with a few thoughts on Recioto. Amarone’s dear mother. It’s also the perfect time of the year since the best Valentine's Day wines is something sweet, and preferably red, though Recioto di Soave is also an attractive option for the holiday.
Recioto della Valpolicella though has everything you want to celebrate the long departed Saint. It’s smooth with caressing richness in the in the mouth. Sweet, and tart, and as complex, or simple as you prefer. It’s delicious on its own, goes terrifically with chocolate, and is an indulgence in every sense of the word. Yes these are expensive, but once or twice a year you and your loved ones deserve everything you can get!
Produced in very small quantities from grapes that have been air dried, often for 6 months, there is nothing like the complex flavors of Recioto della Valpolicella. Retaining the spice, and floral character the grapes produce while concentrating their fruit, sugar, and acids. The results are simply captivatingly gorgeous, and gorgeous is what Valentines is all about.
Best wine to share with your love.
Slide 1
Tedeschi
2007 Tedeschi Recioto della Valpolicella Capitel Monte Fontana $40/500ml
Melting caramel and sweet tea nuance adds a fruit leather quality to the dried cherry and prune aromas that pick up a little smoke note with air. This is a drier style of recioto, still sweet but with lots of mineral underpinnings, and a good tannic base lending fine savory character to the midpalate. n the mouth one again finds sweet tea, along with fresh leather, and some middle eastern spice lurking in big black cherry fruit flavors that are powerful and long. This really has drive in the mouth, power in a more sinewy style than most reciotos. Serious stuff. 93pts
Slide 2
Speri
2010 Speri Recioto della Valpolicella La Roggia $60/375ml
Huge aromas of raisins, dried blackberries, black cherries are joined by accents of bitter chocolate, black tea, and leather on the complex and deep nose. This is relatively sweet, with huge acids keep this lively, if quite creamy with black cherry fruit laced with vanilla on the palate. There’s a lot of spice and floral accent to the palate though the oak really pops on the finish with wood tannins, and some charred, woody tones. There’s enough sugar here to mostly cover the tannins with a big, spicy sweet black fruit note on the finale. The type of wine you’re not supposed to like as much as you do. 93pts
Slide 3
Le Ragose
2009 Le Ragose Recioto della Valpolicella $50/500ml
Herbal and earthy on the nose with spicy, peppery accents over the medicinal black cherry base notes that shows a slightly roasted edge. Supple and smooth in entry, this counters early mineral notes with a late arriving chewy chocolate laced finish. Between the two floats a mass of black cherry fruit, macerated herbs, and some light nutty and quinine notes adding complexity to the finish. Savory and well balanced, not as mattely sweet as some versions. 90pts
Slide 4
Tommasi
2010 Tommasi Recioto della Valpolicella Fiorato $35/375ml
Gorgeous on the nose full of notes of violets, spicy and jammy with wild berry, prune, salted plum and mulberry fruit. Creamy and quite sweet in the mouth, this remains clear on the palate with lovely balsamic toned prune, dried cherry and wild strawberry jam flavors that leads to a modest finish with some peppery spicy nuances. This is soft and on the fruity side, though well balanced and particularly lush and polished. Textbook Recioto. 90pts
Slide 5
Bussola
2009 Bussola Recioto della Valpolicella $55/500ml
Fermented 80% in January, final 20% in March, remains in SS for one year.
Super small black fruits in alcohol greets the nose with very spicy, almost cedary notes though this sees no wood. There’s a lovely interplay of sugar and acids in the mouth, big acids that refresh the plate from some licorice, cola, syrah and root beer flavors on the palate allowing the sweet lingonberry and black raspberry flavors to emerge on the finish. The acids drive the finish well after the sweetness is gone. 90pts
2006 Bussola Recioto della Valpolicella TB $125/500ml
Bottled in September
All from grapes dried until march march, fermented then then aged in 100% new barrique,
Smoky with very forest floor driven aromas that are a meaty, though this isn’t showing much today. Chewy and dense in the mouth this is indecipherable today. It’s got a lot of extract; an extract monster in fact, fairly sweet. Frankly sweet as it should be, yet very focused and pure in the mouth with attractive freshness that reveals some inner mouth perfumes of pencil shavings and oak. Massive yet so very well balanced, one has to take it on faith that the wine has fruit that will explode with time. Today this is an intellectual exercise. 85pts
Recioto della Valpolicella though has everything you want to celebrate the long departed Saint. It’s smooth with caressing richness in the in the mouth. Sweet, and tart, and as complex, or simple as you prefer. It’s delicious on its own, goes terrifically with chocolate, and is an indulgence in every sense of the word. Yes these are expensive, but once or twice a year you and your loved ones deserve everything you can get!
Produced in very small quantities from grapes that have been air dried, often for 6 months, there is nothing like the complex flavors of Recioto della Valpolicella. Retaining the spice, and floral character the grapes produce while concentrating their fruit, sugar, and acids. The results are simply captivatingly gorgeous, and gorgeous is what Valentines is all about.
Best wine to share with your love.
Slide 1
Tedeschi
2007 Tedeschi Recioto della Valpolicella Capitel Monte Fontana $40/500ml
Melting caramel and sweet tea nuance adds a fruit leather quality to the dried cherry and prune aromas that pick up a little smoke note with air. This is a drier style of recioto, still sweet but with lots of mineral underpinnings, and a good tannic base lending fine savory character to the midpalate. n the mouth one again finds sweet tea, along with fresh leather, and some middle eastern spice lurking in big black cherry fruit flavors that are powerful and long. This really has drive in the mouth, power in a more sinewy style than most reciotos. Serious stuff. 93pts
Slide 2
Speri
2010 Speri Recioto della Valpolicella La Roggia $60/375ml
Huge aromas of raisins, dried blackberries, black cherries are joined by accents of bitter chocolate, black tea, and leather on the complex and deep nose. This is relatively sweet, with huge acids keep this lively, if quite creamy with black cherry fruit laced with vanilla on the palate. There’s a lot of spice and floral accent to the palate though the oak really pops on the finish with wood tannins, and some charred, woody tones. There’s enough sugar here to mostly cover the tannins with a big, spicy sweet black fruit note on the finale. The type of wine you’re not supposed to like as much as you do. 93pts
Slide 3
Le Ragose
2009 Le Ragose Recioto della Valpolicella $50/500ml
Herbal and earthy on the nose with spicy, peppery accents over the medicinal black cherry base notes that shows a slightly roasted edge. Supple and smooth in entry, this counters early mineral notes with a late arriving chewy chocolate laced finish. Between the two floats a mass of black cherry fruit, macerated herbs, and some light nutty and quinine notes adding complexity to the finish. Savory and well balanced, not as mattely sweet as some versions. 90pts
Slide 4
Tommasi
2010 Tommasi Recioto della Valpolicella Fiorato $35/375ml
Gorgeous on the nose full of notes of violets, spicy and jammy with wild berry, prune, salted plum and mulberry fruit. Creamy and quite sweet in the mouth, this remains clear on the palate with lovely balsamic toned prune, dried cherry and wild strawberry jam flavors that leads to a modest finish with some peppery spicy nuances. This is soft and on the fruity side, though well balanced and particularly lush and polished. Textbook Recioto. 90pts
Slide 5
Bussola
2009 Bussola Recioto della Valpolicella $55/500ml
Fermented 80% in January, final 20% in March, remains in SS for one year.
Super small black fruits in alcohol greets the nose with very spicy, almost cedary notes though this sees no wood. There’s a lovely interplay of sugar and acids in the mouth, big acids that refresh the plate from some licorice, cola, syrah and root beer flavors on the palate allowing the sweet lingonberry and black raspberry flavors to emerge on the finish. The acids drive the finish well after the sweetness is gone. 90pts
2006 Bussola Recioto della Valpolicella TB $125/500ml
Bottled in September
All from grapes dried until march march, fermented then then aged in 100% new barrique,
Smoky with very forest floor driven aromas that are a meaty, though this isn’t showing much today. Chewy and dense in the mouth this is indecipherable today. It’s got a lot of extract; an extract monster in fact, fairly sweet. Frankly sweet as it should be, yet very focused and pure in the mouth with attractive freshness that reveals some inner mouth perfumes of pencil shavings and oak. Massive yet so very well balanced, one has to take it on faith that the wine has fruit that will explode with time. Today this is an intellectual exercise. 85pts