A Simple Summer Red Wine Right Under Your NoseValpolicella had Hollywood cachet in the ’50s and ’60s. Today, many people haven’t even

tasted it. Yet some of the region’s basic reds are a terrific summer quaff: uncomplicated,

pleasurable, and reasonable

By LETTIE TEAGUE Aug. 13, 2015 6:41 p.m.

THE TRANSITION FROM famous to forgotten can happen as easily to a wine as it does a Hollywood star. Take, for example, Valpolicella, the red wine from Italy’s Veneto region. Once loved by Frank Sinatra, Federico Fellini and Ernest Hemingway, who called it “a wine as congenial as a brother’s house,” Valpolicella is now a rare presence on restaurant wine lists and retail shelves.

A simple red first made famous by Bolla family-winery patriarch Franco Bolla (who also popularized the Veneto

white, Soave), Valpolicella had Hollywood cachet in the 1950s and ’60s, according to Lars Leicht, a spokesman

for Banfi Vintners, the American importer of Bolla wines. The suave Mr. Bolla was a bit of a star himself in the

’70s and ’80s, thanks to a television campaign that featured his popping up Zelig-like at parties, restaurants and

even a wedding with a bottle of Bolla. It was magically “more than wine,” said the tag line.

The type of Valpolicella Mr. Bolla proffered was uncomplicated, pleasurable and affordable—the sort of wine I

like in the summer and the kind I hoped to find as I set out on my quest for some great Valpolicella.

Valpolicella isn’t one wine but many styles of wine from a subregion of the same name, in northeast Italy.

Corvina, Molinara and Rondinella grapes, as well as less-important varieties, are used in its making, and the

blends vary according to producer and type. Prices start at about $10, for a basic Valpolicella, and can go as

high as $200, for the best examples of the region’s flagship style, Amarone della Valpolicella.

There are six broad types of Valpolicella. The area’s simplest, Valpolicella and Valpolicella Classico (wine made

within the Classico zone), account for the majority of the wine produced in the region. Both are, at their best,

light and sprightly, with an alcohol content of 11% to 12%, and should be consumed in their youth.

Valpolicella Superiore, the next step up in the classification’s hierarchy, has a minimum alcohol content of 12%

and is aged at least a year before it’s released. More substantial and longer lived, it is still fairly light- bodied and

summer appropriate. These were the Valpolicellas I sought for my tasting.

Valpolicella Ripasso’s minimum alcohol content is 12%, but it can be much higher. More concentrated and ripe,

Ripasso is augmented with partially dried grape skins reused after the production of Amarone. Drinkers who like

big, rich Napa Valley Cabernets seek out Ripasso, often referred to as a “baby Amarone.”

Recioto della Valpolicella and Amarone della Valpolicella are both made with the addition of specially dried

grapes. The latter style is dry and the former is sweet, but both tend to be much higher in alcohol, sometimes as

much as 16%, and quite long-lived. The retailers I spoke with said oenophiles have shown greater interest in

these last three more-serious and pricier types as sales of the simpler Valpolicellas have declined. One reason

may be that light, quaffable reds can be found in other regions of Italy—and the rest of the world.  Jeff

Kellogg, wine director of New York’s Maialino, said sommeliers as well as drinkers tend to ignore the Veneto in

favor of more fashionable regions such as Tuscany and Piedmont. Mr. Kellogg admitted to overlooking

Valpolicella himself in favor of such Italian reds as Schiava and Frappato, from Alto Adige and Sicily, wines he

finds more captivating than Valpolicella.

Importers, too, have had trouble working up enthusiasm for Valpolicella. Katell Pleven,of the Vine Collective, has

seen more interest in another light Veneto red, Bardolino. Made in the appellation next door to Valpolicella, from

the same grapes, Bardolino is a lighter and fruitier wine. It has been called a “baby Valpolicella”and fit the

summer-wine profile, so I added a couple of bottles to my tasting. I tried almost two dozen Valpolicellas and two

Bardolinos over a few weeks with a diverse group of friends, and not a single person could recall ever having

tasted a Valpolicella. This seemed to underscore (in a completely unscientific fashion) just how unpopular the

wines have become.

Some of the wines deserved discovery, while others did not. All of them were chilled for an hour, to help

enhance the acidity and amplify the fruit. Bright spots included several Valpolicellas that were juicy and bright

and affordably priced, including the 2013 Tedeschi Lucchine Valpolicella Classico ($12), the 2013 Brigaldara

Valpolicella ($15), the 2011 Terre di Monteforte Valpolicella Superiore ($10) and the 2011 Masi Bonacosta

Valpolicella Classico ($12). Both Bardolinos were lively and delicious: the juicy, berry-inflected 2012 Le Fraghe

Brol Grande Bardolino Classico ($18) and the 2014 Monte del Frá Bardolino ($17), which was marked by lots of

ripe cherry.

A number of the wines proved disappointing if not downright dull, lacking the lively acidity and bright qualities of

a good summer red, blunted by a heavy-handed use of oak. Some were a bit weedy and green, showing

herbaceous notes rather than fruit.

I mentioned my disappointment to Gary Fisch when I stopped by Gary’s Wine & Marketplace, in Wayne, N.J., for

several more bottles. I was hoping he’d point me to some finds, but Mr. Fisch couldn’t recall the last time he’d

tasted a Valpolicella, including Bolla, which he housed separately from the other Valpolicellas, in the large-

format section. Bolla was only available in a magnum, Mr. Fisch noted, because the smaller bottles just weren’t

selling.

When I told Mr. Fisch I didn’t really want to buy an entire magnum of Bolla, he offered to open the bottle. We’d

taste it together, he declared. He was curious about its flavor profile, especially since its sales had declined.

Mr. Fisch carried the Bolla magnum to a tasting desk in the center of the store. He asked a few staff members if

they had ever tasted the wine. No one had, although one staffer recalled that his father had bought a bottle for

Thanksgiving dinner last year.

Mr. Fisch produced several glasses. We all raised them and gave the wine a good whiff. The aromas were funky

—a bit like dirt, someone said—but the taste was worse. I couldn’t imagine anyone’s being pleased if Mr. Bolla

showed up with a bottle at a party. Whatever was “more than wine” in this bottle was pretty bad.

I had several bottles of Valpolicella in my shopping basket. I asked if we could taste a few more for comparison.

(I would pay for them, of course.) Mr. Fisch was game, as was his staff, though the Bolla had made them slightly

wary. The first wine was the 2012 Zenato Valpolicella Classico Superiore ($11), which tasted cooked and

overripe. The 2009 Pieropan Ruberpan Valpolicella Superiore ($18) was quite good—warm and rich—while the

2012 Speri La Roverina Valpolicella Classico Superiore ($15) was so bitter and astringent Mr. Fisch said, “It

makes my eyes curl.” He disliked it so much he ordered the wine immediately removed from the shelf.

I wondered how the wine got there in the first place. Chad Watkins, the store’s wine-club director, recalled that

an earlier vintage of Speri had been good. That is what happens when a wine is reordered and the subsequent

vintage goes untasted, said Mr. Fisch. It was hard to re-taste every vintage of every wine in the store. “But we

should,” he said.

A few days later, I found a bottle of 2012 Bolla Bardolino ($9) in another wine store and chilled it for an hour. It

was light bodied and bright, with a bitter cherry note—not a bad summer drink.

I don’t know if Valpolicella was better in Papa Hemingway’s day or if the drinkers back then were less discerning

than those today. (After all, the great writer was known to favor Champagne mixed with absinthe, which sounds

like a disgusting drink.) But many of the Valpolicellas I tasted—aside from a half dozen examples—were less

than inspiring. On the other hand, the Bardolinos were promising. Perhaps Bardolino is a rising new star?

2011 Masi Bonacosta Valpolicella Classico $12

Made by a noted Amarone producer, this Valpolicella is produced primarily from Corvina grapes grown at the

base of Masi’s hillside vineyards, just north of Verona. It is an appealing, approachable red with notes of red fruit

and spice.

2011 Terre di Monteforte Valpolicella Superiore $10

Easily the best buy of the tasting, this is a juicy, ripe red with just enough stuffing to stand up to barbecue and

lively enough to drink on its own. It’s one of several wines made by a consortium of growers who turn out a well-

regarded Soave as well.

2013 Tedeschi Lucchine Valpolicella Classico $12

Fresh and fruity, soft and approachable, with pleasant notes of bitter cherry, this wine from the Lucchine

vineyard in the heart of the Valpolicella region is the epitome of an easy-drinking red that would be pleasurable

to drink well into the fall.

2013 Brigaldara Valpolicella $15

Although there have been vineyards planted at Brigaldara for centuries, only in the past few decades has the

family been making wine from their grapes. This bottle is a hallmark for a good Valpolicella wine: dense yet lithe,

with a lively red-cherry aroma.

2014 Monte del Frá Bardolino $17

Also known as “baby Valpolicella,” Bardolino, the appellation next door, has much in common with Valpolicella.

Its wines, made from the same fruit, are a tad lighter, livelier and juicier. Monte del Frá’s is a decidedly,

deliciously quaffable wine.