Naomi Bossom

2009 | No. 81

Parmigiano-Reggiano and Valpolicella
A Rare Marriage of Cheese with Red Wine

By Edward Behr


Contrary to the common view in the past, it’s widely agreed these days that red wine is rarely the best choice with cheese, the flavors of the two tending to cancel each other out. White wine, having little tannin, generally goes much better than red, and with aged cheeses what often works is a white wine with a little to a lot of sweetness. In Emilia, however, the everyday wine for all purposes is sparkling red Lambrusco; a good one is fresh, dry, acid, and fruity. If you are drinking it anyway, it makes sense with Parmigiano, although the combination isn’t special. Looking farther afield, a common recommendation for Parmigiano is sparkling wine, not too dry, but it has to be an especially flavorful and therefore expensive bottle. I veer instead toward another common recommendation, for a red wine: Valpolicella in its different forms, including the siblings Amarone and Recioto. The classic zone around Verona isn’t so very far from Parma and Reggio, and a red fits more easily into the flow of a meal when the cheese course is in its usual spot. Good Valpolicella, its fruit flavors led by cherry, is a long way from the mediocre bottlings that largely determine the wine’s reputation. The main grape, Corvina, offers a combination of fruit, high acidity, and low tannin, all useful with Parmigiano.

The complications of the Valpolicella family, unfortunately, defy simple explanation. Regular Valpolicella, including the Classico Superiore, is made like usual red wine. But Valpolicella comes in diverse forms from dry to sweet, including the rare sparkling sweet red called Recioto Spumante. The costly dry Amarone and the relatively easy-to-find, sweet still Recioto, are made from partially dried grapes (with traditional drying, sometimes noble rot appears). Many of the regular Valpolicella and Valpolicella Classico Superiore wines are now labeled Ripasso. They start out as usual red wine, but then in spring they are “repassed” — recombined — with the skins left from pressing Recioto and Amarone, which adds both sweet flavors and enough actual sugar to provoke a small new fermentation. The Ripasso wines generally have a juicy sweetness and are often good value. Among the further complications, any of the ostensibly dry Valpolicella wines can have some detectable sugar, and any of them, dry or sweet, may be made in a traditional or modern style or in between. The modern wines, products of greater control and higher technology, often taste of vanilla from aging in new oak barrels. They stress “primary” flavors of fresh fruit, as opposed to the secondary ones from fermentation or the tertiary ones that come with age.

Traditionally, it was nature that determined whether a wine made from partly dried grapes turned out dry as Amarone or sweet as Recioto — whether, in the rising alcohol, conditions became so inhospitable that the yeasts stopped early, leaving the wine sweet, or continued until the sugar was gone. For Amarone, some producers today aim at the legal minimum of 14 percent alcohol, while more tradition-minded ones employ sweeter grapes and allow Amarone to rise naturally to 15 and 16 percent alcohol or more. Either Amarone or Recioto will improve in the bottle for many years. These two potentially great wines are perhaps best drunk on their own; they aren’t easily matched with food, apart from a little Parmigiano.

The keys to success of the Valpolicella family with Parmigiano are sufficient fruit flavor, and either some sugar or age or both to reduce the effects of tannin in the wine and stand up to the deep, nutty, caramel flavors of the cheese. The more fruit-filled wines act somewhat like the cherry preserves served with Basque ewe’s-milk cheese (and now the host of other sweets served with other cheeses). Regular plain Valpolicella generally lacks enough flavor to stand up to Parmigiano, but better examples of Valpolicella Classico Superiore work (and some good Valpolicella comes from outside the Classico area). Over time, the young wine’s flavors of cherry and dark berries give way to cooked fruit, including plums and various jams, as well as prunes, hints of sweet spice, chocolate, tobacco, leather, toffee. Amarone and Recioto, because they come from semi-dried grapes and are usually older, have more of the latter group. But even some Amarone and Recioto don’t have enough fruit for the cheese; Recioto’s sugar can dominate. The modern wines work, but for me the more traditional ones are more fun.

Like the wine, Parmigiano changes in flavor as it ages; it also becomes stronger and saltier. Yet in my tastings, the contrast of cheese and wine was so great that the flavors of the particular cheese had a limited effect on the combination with the wine. Where the role of wine with cheese is usually to refresh as well as complement, here refreshment isn’t the point. Instead, above all with Recioto, you’re matching two forms of luxurious intensity. You sip the wine, try a bite of cheese, taking your time, going back and forth. There isn’t to me much synergy between the wine and cheese, the sort of interaction that transforms your perception of one or the other. But the two sets of flavors coexist in a remarkably respectful way.

Fortunately, at a wine shop, and especially if you choose a Ripasso, there is perhaps less gamble with Valpolicella than most wines. Prices range from around $25 to more than $100, for superior Amarone. Drink young Valpolicella Superiore, including Ripasso, at around 60 degrees F (16 degrees C), the coolness bringing out the fruit. Drink the better dry wines, including Amarone, at around 65 degrees F (18 degrees C). Recioto, with its sugar, is better around 55 to 60 degrees F (13 to 16 degrees C), not as cold as white dessert wines. I hesitate to break the trinity of bread, cheese, and wine, but, eating a little of the concentrated cheese and sipping the wine, you can do without bread.●

From issue 81

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