Recioto della Valpolicella Wine Guide

Recioto della Valpolicella is one of the oldest wines produced in Italy, in fact, the Rhaetian wine dates back to the Roman period when the Reti were present in Valpolicella. But who were these Reti guys? A tribe of Celtic origin who had sensed the potential of the splendid hills that rise west of Verona.

The name Recioto, however, comes from “recia”, ear, in fact, the Corvina bunches have the particularity of having two lateral wings, which are cut to concentrate even more sugars, aromas and flavors in the bunches.

As you all know, Recioto is a sweet wine, one of the best Italian passito, produced like Amarone, (of which it is the progenitor) drying of the bunches.

And after about four months of concentration and drying, the bunches lost up to 30% in weight, amplifying crazily the organoleptic characteristics of Corvina or Rondinella, the two main vines with which Recioto is made.

Organoleptic characteristics of Recioto della Valpolicella

Recioto is a complex wine, warm and with very broad suggestions of black fruit in alcohol, cocoa, licorice, mint, and spices.

You will recognize it for its intense and dense ruby ​​color and its amazing density in the glass.

Organoleptic characteristics of Recioto della Valpolicella

One of the most particular characteristics is the clear scent of black cherries that tends to be ethereal.

In the mouth, it’s full, sumptuous, sweet, but with a discreet vivacity dictated by lively tannins, never too pleased, although it is not a champion of freshness. It is certainly not subtle and fine, do not expect a seraphic chamber concert, but a symphony played by an orchestra with burning instruments.

That said, let’s move on to some food and wine pairings since thanks to Recioto you can solve one of the great dilemmas of the food-wine combination: cocoa, chocolate, and super heavy desserts.

Recioto food pairings

Considering the strong structure of Recioto, all the cakes with cocoa and chocolate are welcome, maybe raw chocolate would be too daring, but for cheesecakes, chocolate salami, pear and chocolate tart, chocolate cake do not hesitate to combine a good Recioto.