I recently attended the Amarone Families tasting in New York City and was privileged to taste Amarone from 1988 – 2007. Of course I preferred the older vintages which of course were priced at $300.
If you aren’t familiar with Amarone, it’s not a grape but a wine made through the appassimento process and fermented dry. The appassimento process is drying the grapes. When harvested grapes are placed in special slatted boxes, laid on open shelves or hung from ceiling rafters by hooks. The area is kept well aerated to prevent buildup of humidity. The grapes are left drying until mid January, by which they have lost as much as 60% of their water through evaporation.
