The slow Appassimento, Masi Technical Group expertise, continued through to early February 2023.
New French oak vats dedicated to excellent fermentation for the dried grapes.
After four long winter months of slow Appassimento, the selected grapes of the hilltop vines of the Masi Agricola Group in Valpolicella Classica start the delicate fermentation phase, which will give us the valuable Amaroni Costasera, Riserva Costasera, the crus Campolongo di Torbe and Mazzano, and the Vaio Armaron delle Tenute Serego Alighieri.
“Collaborating with various institutes at a university level, the Masi Technical Group has analysed the original Appassimento process that gives rise to the Amarone” Sandro Boscaini, President of Masi Agricola, specifies “drawing the conclusion that the lengthy Appassimento, as applied by our grandfathers, is what gives us the very best Amarone, with its original, unique, inimitable “illusion of sweetness”. The derogation from the rules has this year allowed us to press starting early November. In Masi, as usual, we waited for late January, early February, without forcing nature’s hand, indeed, according to natural rhythms, respecting “the taste of time””.
Upon completion of the emptying of the numerous drying rooms, the positive forecasts of the Masi Technical Group are confirmed. High quality grapes, dried in ideal conditions - thanks to a mild, dry winter with cold days late January - which have yielded excellent concentration with weight loss even above 35%. The must shows excellent intensity and olfactory complexity.
“The Amarone is also original in the assessment of its vintages”, Masi's Technical Director, Andrea Dal Cin, clarifies. “A great, five-star Amarone is always the result of high quality grapes harvested and a perfect Appassimento process: this is the case of 2022, the 250th harvest of our historic cellars”.
During these first few, cold days of February, fermentation began in the new wine-making department, in French oak vats, a Masi Technical Group project dedicated to excellence in Amarone production.
“Great wines are the combined result of lands with a natural vocation, specific grapes, human skill and excellent techniques, like the Amarone della Valpolicella, which now sees its Appassimento technique being put forward for nomination as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. And this is a milestone earned by the excellence of the wine: amongst the most valuable worldwide, and by the territory that has preserved farming know-how, secular traditions and original techniques” Sandro Boscaini, “Mister Amarone”, concludes.
