Amarone Families

The ten members of the newly-designated Amarone Families landed in London last month to promote their new group with a tasting of their Amarones from the 2000 vintage. Sandro Boscaini, president of the Amarone Families, and head of Masi said: “In the last 25 years Amarone has enjoyed a good reputation and high appreciation all over the world. With Barolo and Brunello, it is one of the three flagship red wines from Italy.

“Our aim is to be active in a qualitative way, to protect Amarone as a precious wine, and to promote this special, unique wine on the international market.”

The group is concerned that the name of Amarone is being diluted and diminished by overproduction, with too many producers having jumped aboard the Amarone bandwagon, who are driving down prices. Boscaini said “we don’t want to see an aggressive policy to reduce the price and the quality” of Amarone.

“We want to protect the complexity and uniqueness of this amazing wine, which is impossible to find outside this region, with the influence of Lake Garda and the protection of the Dolomites in the north.”

They are not promoting a particular style of Amarone, as the tasting showed, notes below. Boscaini said the families have “traditional and modern practices. Each show their own terroir, style and interpretation of their vineyards.“

According to the Verona Chamber of Commerce, in the last decade the production of grapes for Amarone and Recioto has more than trebled, from around 8 million kilograms in 1999 to 26 million kilograms in 2008.  This equates to an increase in sales from 2.3m bottles to 8.5m bottles in the same time frame.

In 2008, 40% of the grapes grown in the Valpolicella region were used to produce Amarone. This is the highest proportion on record, and one of the reasons for concern by this group.

They’ve predicted that by 2011, 15 million bottles may be available on the market, and they believe the market is already saturated at about the current level of 8 million bottles. Their press release states: “A relevant part of this surplus in production is due to operators and areas recently converted to Amarone.”

These ten families have over 1,600 years of production experience behind them, and they represent more than 40% of the value of Amarone sales. In 2008 they sold 2.1 million bottles of Amarone, 80% of which were exported.

Boscaini also said the group was not fixed: “we are ten families so far, but the association is open to new members who share with us the same principles of making and understanding Amarone,” emphasising the group’s history of Amarone production.

The group has self-applied some extra rules which they say makes their product more Amarone-like.

1. Minimum alcohol of 15% (compared to 14% in the regulations)
2. Minimum dry extract of  30g/l  (compared to 22g/l in the regulations)
3. Minimum 30 months’ ageing, from December 1^st of the year of harvest, before release onto the market (compared to 24 months in the regulations)
4. Opportunity (not compulsion) to declassify (not make Amarone) if the vintage is poor

At a glance – the ten founding members:

1. Allegrini
2. Brigaldara
3. Masi Agricola
4. Musella, Agricola
5. Nicolis Angelo e Figli, Soc. Agr.
6. Sant’Antonio, Tenuta
7. Speri Viticoltori
8. Tedeschi, Agricola F.lli
9. Tommasi Viticoltore
10. Zenato, Az. Vitivinicola

Tasting notes

RS = residual sugar.

Azienda Agricola Musella, Amarone della Valpolicella DOC, 2000
16.9%,  3.5g/l RS
Smoke, dark berries, sweet and tarry, rich and muscular, sweet tannins. Tastes sweet on the finish, but coming form alcohol rather than sugar. Crunchy cherry fruit, melding to smokiness. Grip of tannin core to frame the fruit.

Speri Viticoltori, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC, 2000, Vigneto Monte Sant’Urbano
15%, 4.9g/l RS
Smooth black cherry, supple edges falling into lush concentrated fruit; primary fruit; lush bitter red cherry on palate. Richness with refreshing dry tannins. Very nice balance, but far too young to be drinking now. Long finish.

Soc. Agr. Nicolis Angelo e Figli, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC, 2000, Ambrosan
16%, 7.5g/l RS
Smoky black tarry fruit, fine grain tannin which gives structure; modern style, sweet primary fruit; spicy dry grapes; balance, full bodied, yet seductive with no age showing; firm tannin core. Good length.

Brigaldara, Amarone DOC, 2000, Case Vecie
17.5%, 8g/l RS
Spicy, hint of lifting volatile acidity; gentle red cherry fruit, supple, lots of sweet supporting tannin. Smoke on palate, full, lush body, modern and youthful, big fruit, young balance. Black cherry on palate, with attractive bitter twist; full and densely bodied, long. Rumtoph richness and high alcohol spiciness

Az. Vitivinicola Zenato, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC, 2000
15.5%, 7gl RS
sweet, red cherry perfume, medium full body, with attractive stewed red cherry; high glycerol; nicely balanced, but still a bit grippy; decent length.

Masi Agricola, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC, 2000, Costasera
15.8%, 5.7g/l RS
Wood spices – cinnamon, allspice. Red berry fruit, least concentrated wine so far in the flight. Medium bodied, driest tasting (but not driest) of the wines so far, fine gritty/grainy tannic; beginning to show some signs of age – hints of savoury notes, not so succulent in fruit terms.

Agricola F.lli Tedeschi, Amarone della Valpolicella DOC, 2000, Capitel Monte Olmi
15%, 2g/l RS
Tarry black notes with dark brooding berry fruit, lush body sweetness backed by plentiful tannins; more traditional style; nicely balanced, doesn’t taste sweet; spicy medium full body, just edging off primary fruit and going into body-building phase. Tannins will meld, currently leave palate cleansed with red fruit coating.

Tenuta Sant’Antonio, Amarone della Valpolicella DOC, 2000, Campo dei Gigli
16%, <4g/l RS
Sweet rumtoph nose, overtly sweet attack, red cherry fruit, light-ish weight palate attack, crunchiness coming through a bit later; plenty tannin, sweet, supple,  modern style – slightly more reductive; late developer in the mouth; quite long finish

Allegrini, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC, 2000
15.4%, 4g/l RS
Sweet blackcurrant fruit on nose, noticeable different notes to rest of flight; sweet, plenty of tannin, still with fine-grained grip. Full body, attractive dry note to tannin to counter the sweet fruit; modernist. Harmonious balance with very long finish.

Tommasi Viticoltore, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOC, 2000
15%, 5g/l RS
Savoury spice, nose, steeped black and red cherry fuit; some evolution on palate, dry backbone of tannin to support the fruit.  Long finish.

Two members of the newly-formed Australia’s First Families of Wine (AFFW) have been in the UK creating awareness for the new group of family-owned Aussie wine producers.  There has been a decent amount of interest among the press, and I took my slot and had a chat with Bruce Tyrell, of Tyrell’s Wines. Robert Hill-Smith of Yalumba was off elsewhere.

Tyrrell Family

Bruce hit the nail on the head when he said the world has been waiting for some good news to come out of Australia. It’s been doom and gloom for Australia for a while: glut and prolonged drought at the same time, exports dropping in key markets, the big companies offloading Aussie assets, other companies going to the wall etc. 

The new AFFW project has a touchy-feely aspect where members of the owning families will be on the road to promote their wines, to promote Aussie regionality and wines with personality. Tyrell said: “After the last twelve months, a lot of people don’t trust the big organisations, but a family operation is easier for consumers to get hold of, to hang onto, and trust what they say.” 

One of the criteria for membership of this family of families is having two generations working the farm.  Tyrell said: “the younger generation will be getting into marketplace and doing what we did 25 years ago.” And he added “If we bring the next generation together we’ll have been successful“.  Many members of the senior generation are evidently good friends as well as competitors.

The organisation has been a while in the making, with the first discussions taking place in 2005.  And after their first formal meeting at the back end of 2006, Tyrell said: “the wineries sort of fell into place, though not everyone who was invited wanted to join.” Twelve would seem to be the perfect vinous number, but he said it’s not locked into, so there could be more members. Given the positive reception the group has had, one can imagine the odd winery regretting their decision to decline the invitation.

The national organisation that promotes Australian wine – Wine Australia – already has a strategy to promote what it calls ‘regional heroes’. This is exactly the place where some of the wines of the AFFW fit.  Tyrell was keen to emphasise that the families are committed to Wine Australia, but “wanted to add to it; to do more things at the better end of Australian wine. We want to expand the coverage, especially of regional heroes, so we can get a better share of that market.”

So, while some of wineries are really quite sizeable, indeed five of them are in the top 20 biggest wineries in Australia, Tyrell iterated the focus will be on regional styles of wine, as well as each family’s icon wines.  These latter he loosely defined as “wines that have a long term show record, they’re on the Langton’s list; wines that are recognised in the trade and market as icon wines.

“It either is or it isn’t.”  he said.  Which makes sense in a way – standout examples include his own Tyrell’s Vat 1 Hunter Semillon, as well as Henschke’s Hill of Grace, McWilliams’ Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon and De Bortoli’s Noble One. And a joining criterion is having 20 years of icon wines available for tasting.

The group is next meeting at the end of November to finalise plans for 2010, with the first big splash likely to be at the London Wine Trade Fair (trade only) in May.  As part of the campaign, Tyrell said to expect some long verticals, though he didn’t say if trade, consumers or both would benefit.

But in recession-hit times the love affair is beginning to wear thin, so it wouldn’t necessarily seem like the best time for a group of wine producers to start a campaign focusing on posh Aussie wines from different parts of Australia, when most of what we’ve been used to is stuff from that ubiquitous catch-all location ‘South Eastern Australia’.

Australia's First Families of Wine group

Nonetheless, this is exactly what a dozen family-owned companies have done.  It’s true to say that Australia doesn’t just produce consistent, entry level wines for everyday drinking. Among the 7,000 or so growers there are plenty more than a handful making sometimes exquisite expressions of site and variety – though at a cost that most Brits have so far been rarely willing to pay.

This ‘bevvy’ of twelve families (twelve being the magic number in wine – one each in a case?) have come together to jointly market their wines, and show us exactly what makes them distinct from the modern-day versions of 70s fashion clinks ‘kanga rouge’ and ‘wallaby white’.

Proudly calling themselves Australia’s First Families of Wine (AFFW), these guys plan to spend at least AUD$500 million to show that Aussie wines can have real character and individuality, can express the place where they’re grown and made, and the varieties from which they’re made.

The French might have called this terroir, the Aussies call it ‘regionality’.

The aim is to create a whole new image on the global stage for the section of the Aussie wine industry for which such regionality provides a key marker in their winemaking ethos.

Together the twelve own over 5,000 hectares of Australian vineyard, which is about 3% of the country’s total vineyard area. Between them they have over 1,200 years of winemaking experience.

The UK is the initial target market for First Families’ activities, starting in 2010, and I was interviewed about the UK market as part of an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio package about the first families’ initiative.

Listen to the ABC Radio package (3 mins 45 secs):

A draft plan of action to increase awareness based on consumer sampling and education opportunities is due to be finalised in early November 2009.

The founding members of the AFFW are:
Brown Brothers (Victoria)
Campbells (Victoria)
d’Arenberg (South Australia)
De Bortoli (New South Wales)
Henschke (South Australia)
Howard Park (Western Australia)
Jim Barry (South Australia)
McWilliam’s (New South Wales)
Tahbilk (Victoria)
Taylors (South Australia) – called Wakefield in the UK, something to do with a Port company…
Tyrrell’s (New South Wales)
Yalumba (South Australia)

The Australians are not the first to create high profile joint marketing groups.  Primum Familiae Vini has been around for a number of years. More recently a group from New Zealand have joined together, as well as some key producers from Italy who make Amarone.  I’ll publish something about these other groups soon.