Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2012

Amarone Classico Bertani was the first Amarone created intentionally and not by mistake as a result of an "escaped" fermentation. Saying “Amarone” in Valpolicella has been common at least since 1939 to refer to a wine that should have been a Recioto, the traditional sweet wine of Valpolicella, but which turned dry because of an uncontrolled fermentation; Amarone was a Recioto scapa’ (gone out of control). The Classico Bertani of 1958, on the other hand, was not the result of an out-of-control fermentation, but of an oenological process designed to produce an important dry wine; from the following year it went into production regularly, enriching the range of Bertani wines with a new label.

The Amarone Classico Bertani grapes come from the Novare estate in the municipality of Negrar in Valpolicella Classica. The soils are calcareous and basaltic. In Negrar there is the largest number of prestigious crus in Valpolicella and the style of the wines is elegant, mineral and long-lived.

After the harvest, the grapes are spread out to dry for 120 days on bamboo cane racks. In the first days of January they are pressed and the fermentation begins with skin contact. The wine ages 6-7 years in large Slavonian oak barrels.