Well-made Amarone is one of Italy's glories; it is a rich, deep flavoured wine with a dry, bitter finish on the palate. It is made by selecting the ripest bunches of the grapes, then drying them for several months on wooden slats or trays and finally pressing and fermenting them. The effect of drying is to reduce the w ter content so that the wine produced has more concentration of flavour. Historically this passito wine was made as a sweet wine or Recioto then in the 1930s a producer inadvertently fermented the wine dry, so Amarone was born. It is a fairly recent wine in the sense that it was first recorded as being sold in 1938 although it was only in the 1950s that Amarone started to become popular. Brigaldara is a founder member of the Families of Amarone a group of 12 producing families dedicated to maintain high quality Amarone. Grape(s): 50% Corvinone, 20% Corvina, 20% Rondinella, 10% Others Area: A 5ha. vineyard in the village of Cavolo di Grezzana planted in 1994 Training system: Guyot Harvest: Hand harvested in the second week of October Vinification: The grapes were dried for about 4 months in small wooden trays. During fermentation the must was pumped over the skins daily Ageing: Aged for 12 months in French barriques and 24 months in large 25hl Slavonian oak barrels