📜 Recioto della Valpolicella
A sweet red wine from partly dried grapes of the Valpolicella valley.
Recioto della Valpolicella is a sweet red wine from dried grapes of the Valpolicella valley in Veneto, northern Italy. It is a protected appellation. The word "recioto" is tied to an Italian word for "ear", the projecting parts of a bunch that were thought the ripest.
The wine is made from the same grapes as plain Valpolicella: Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella. But the bunches are first dried for several months on straw mats or in airy rooms. The berries lose water and the sugar becomes more concentrated. This is called appassimento. The juice ferments slowly, some sugar stays in the wine, so it is sweet, dark and aromatic, with notes of black cherry and dried fruit.
A sparkling version also exists. Recioto is counted among the sweet reds of Italy. It is served with desserts, blue cheese or alone in small portions. Beside it stands the dry Amarone, made from the same dried grapes.
How it connects to Wine
📜 Recioto della Valpolicella ← main grape of ← 🍇 Rondinella → kind of → 🍇 Grape varieties → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
- Related to
- 📍 Valpolicella
- Main grapes
- 🍇 Corvina, 🍇 Corvinone, 🍇 Rondinella
- Wines
- 🍷 Red wine, 🍷 Sweet wine, 🍷 Sparkling wine
Frequently asked questions
What is Recioto della Valpolicella?
A sweet red Italian wine from dried grapes of the Valpolicella valley.
Which grapes make Recioto?
Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella.
What is appassimento?
Drying grapes before fermentation, which concentrates the sugar in the berries.
What to read next
- 🍷 Sparkling wine — Wine with bubbles of carbon dioxide produced by a second fermentation.
- 🍷 Sweet wine — Wine with a lot of sugar, drunk with dessert or instead of it.
Similar
📜 Valpolicella Ripasso · 📜 Amarone della Valpolicella · 📜 Bardolino · 📜 Brachetto d'Acqui · 📜 Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco · 📜 Malvasia di Casorzo d'Asti
⚠️ Wine contains alcohol: adults only, drink in moderation. Wine usually contains sulphites; egg white or milk proteins are sometimes used for fining — important for allergies and for vegans.