Reciata means “by the ears” and this 1967 Bertani Reciata della Valpolicella Amarone Classico Superiore, at 15% alcohol, was made from grapes picked only by the ears, or, the top outside berries on each cluster. Recie means “ears” in Italian.These are the ripest berries. After picking, the fruit is laid out on straw mats to let the sun evaporate some of the water, drying and making the clusters more concentrated, resulting in  a higher sugar ratio to the volume; thus, higher alcohol. The process is called passito. After a few months, of drying into nearly raisons,  the grapes are fermented into wine.

Like regular Valpolicella wine, the Amarone is made from Corvina, Molanara and Rondinella grapes.

I got the bottle on April 30, 1980 for $16.99 in New York.  Today, it would cost over $200. I believe this bottle was ready to drink at 48 years old and I shared it with some Dionysian members at Nunzio’s Restaurant in Collingswood, New Jersey, where you’re free to bring your own wines to dinner.

The brick-orange edge still had ruby color and it forecast complex scents. The plum, prune, black raison mixed with a smoky earthy aroma. It was as smooth as silk! The sunshine fro the summer of 1967 was captured perfectly in a wine made in an older style. It was a 19 on the 20-point Dionysian scale. I wish I had another one in the cellar. In vino veritas.