 to exotic wine travel. I am your host Matthew Horky. Welcome back to the show. I'm sorry if there's going to be a little bit of a little bit of background noise. I'm outside. I thought it'd be a nice day. I'm near the street. So you're going to hear some cars going by and everything. I hope that's mitigated. But today we're going to talk about reds and navigating the reds in Valpolicella. So reds from Valpolicella are from Veneto. Veneto is the most productive wine region in Italy. Valpolicella reds and Suave whites are some of the most exported wines in all of Italy. So we're going to go through these. These can be very delicious wines made from Corvina, Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinera. My Italian is not that great. So these are the types of grapes that make up the blend. And you're going to see several different categories. You know most people when they go to Veneto they want to chase the big, powerful Amarones. Amarones are grapes that are wines that are made by grapes that are harvested, then sun dried. So the grapes shrivel concentrate, then they make the wine. The wine's become big, powerful, 15, 16, 17 percent alcohol, rich, full of tobacco, earthy, shit-dried cherry, and plum notes, things that people really like. But really the bread and butter of Valpolicella are Valpolicella reds. Now historically Valpolicella is a cooler region so the reds were a little bit thinner. That's why they had to come up with Amarone style of wines. But there's a lot more to the region than just Amarone. And let's talk about some of those wines today. Luckily we have some wines, the whole lineup from Villa Canistrata. We met them at a business to business tasting. They're nice enough to pass us some samples. So we're going to illustrate the wines using their lineup. So let's get started. You know, at the very basic level you're going to see wines they're called Valpolicella rosso. And those are blends. These are going to be thin, just everyday cup of red wines, usually not that expensive. One thing that you also need to know about these wines, you can see Valpolicella Classico on the label. That just means they're grown within a smaller area, the original area from which Valpolicella wines come from. They've expanded the area because the wines had so much commercial success. So the the zone is bigger, there's more vineyards, there's more wine to go around. The next step up from Valpolicella reds, you're going to see other things like repaso superiore. So what does that, what does that stuff kind of mean? Well let's get into it first of all. First of all, if we have the Villa Canistrata e Lassi Valpolicello repaso superiore from 2016. Now what are repaso wines? Repaso wines are Valpolicella reds. What they do is they take the skins from Amarone wines once they're finished. They throw them back into the Valpolicella red batch. The wines ferment again so you get a richer, stronger wine than just a Valpolicella kind of classic like classic style wine. They're not as big as Amarones, but they do have richness. I've had this wine before, I really really enjoy it. With these wines you get a little bit of cherry and just a touch of tobacco, not full-on tobacco like you get for Amarone wines. Cherry, fall leaves, touch of a tobacco, earth. These wines are medium to full body, lots of texture, lots of red fruit, lots of earthiness. Fans of central Italian, when I compare them, they're kind of like San Giovesi based wines, but Veneto wines tend to be a little bit more black cherry, whereas San Giovesi tends to be more sour cherry. I think this e Lassi wine is very good. The e Lassi repaso, I'm going to give it to 90 points. I thought it was good when I tasted it in the business to business tasting. I think it's very good when I'm tasting it now. Oh, excellent wine. Let's move on, shall we? Next we have the Villa Canestrari Valpolicella Superiori 2016. Now what's interested, when you see superiori on these wines, you know they have longer aging requirements. The wines have to be a little bit more concentrated because there's yield management that comes into play, but for some producers like Canestrari with their Valpolicella, they're actually making this like an Amarone. So what happens is these grapes get dried for anywhere from 20 to 40 days. The grapes shrivel, concentrate, dehydrate, they become darker, denser, richer in sugar, make wines. This one turns out to be 14.5 alcohol or as opposed to Amarone wines where the grapes are dried from anywhere from three months to four months in the case of these wines. So I have not tasted this wine. This is the 2016. Let's see how it tastes compared to the repaso. Off the bat, you're going to get just a touch, not a little, not a ton, just a touch of darker fruit, dark cherry red plum. There is a little more concentration, a little bit more tobacco notes, a little bit of menthol. This wine slightly fuller in body, just a tad bit richer. You've got a little bit more tannin, a little bit more concentration. I think that a lot of people are going to like this wine. I'm going to score also 90 points for my palate. Personally, I prefer to drink the repaso style wine. It's just a tad lighter, tad juicier, a tad more food friendly. But I think a lot of people that don't want to spring and spend the big time money for Amarones are going to like these superior style wines that are baby Amarones, Amarone like. And then lastly in the Valpolicella red, you're going to have Amarones or Amarone reservas that are aged a little bit longer. This is kind of story's top wine, the 1888 Amarone de la Valpolicella Reserva 2012. It's 16.5 alcohol. It's a big boy. And they've started to make this new wine, just the Amarone de la Valpolicella 2016. They wanted to make this. This is dried on the grapes are dried for three months. These are going to be easier Amarones, Amarones that you can drink more than one glass. Sometimes Amarones becomes so thick and powerful. One glass is enough for me. So yeah, check it out. Let me know. Are you guys drinking a lot of Veneto wines? Are you drinking some of the Rapazos, the Valpolicella superior days or you go always go straight for Amarone? Let me know in the comments below. So guys, if you like this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, Exotic Wine Travel. I will see you at the next episode.