I leave tomorrow for the Vitignoitalia show in Naples, but before I go, I want to register, if only for my own reference, some impressions and observations. This is my sixth or seventh time in the Veneto, specifically in the Verona area. In just a couple of years I've noticed some striking changes here, some positive and some deplorable.
On the side of deplorability, there have been two distinct yet probably related tendencies in land use. Everywhere you go you see both rampant suburbanization and the planting of new vineyards. Everywhere. By highways and factories and housing developments. There is already a huge overproduction of Valpolicella in a market where, except for Amarone from the top aziende, the product is not highly prized. Granted, people from German.-speaking countries flow through here all the time, and they buy a great deal of the stuff direct from the wineries. People from the area are loyal to the local product. But to keep planting in areas that are clearly too alluvial to be really good -- is it simply a matter of tax breaks?
That thought occurred to me last evening as I drove along the SP4. At a busy roundabout there was a vineyard of fairly young plants--where before there were orchard after orchard of famous Valpolicella cherries.
Maybe the vineyards aren't long for this world. At the roadside there was also a surveyor at work. I wondered how long till that acreage joined the strip mall and condo development next to it.
On a brighter note, there is the earth under the various parts of this zone. As you go north, toward Trento, you come immediately into the glaciated Vallagarina. The Adige runs through it, but its flood plain is rather narrow and the predominant soils are the stony, gravelly. Product of glacial retreat. The elevations of vineyards is higher than a few miles south and soon they rise above the fog line. Within a few miles of classic Valpolicella you are already in a cool-climate zone. The effect on the wines is dramatic, and they seem both cleaner and clearer than the better known wines of the province of Verona.
That's not to discount the Valpolicellas altogether, of course. The best soils in the Classico zone are volcanic, which can lend the wines the expected minerality and heft; and these qualities are pronounced in the best Ripassos and Amarones. They're luscious and structured. But you can't drink Amarone every day even if you can afford it. It's just too much wine.
I'd hate to see this entire area become a victim of unbridled suburban development. On the other hand, I'd hate to see oceans of wines no one really ones gushing out of here, continuing to hold back the regeneration of Valpolicella. The producers who are pushing higher into the hills have the right idea. The vineyards are far harder to work, but the results are worthwhile.
As for the flatland vineyards I'd say, "Bring back the cherry orchards." But please, friends, go easy on the strip malls.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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