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Percentage increase in sales of biodynamic wines for the 52 weeks ending March 2021, according to Nielsen. Sales of biodynamic wines totaled $6 million for that period. During the same time frame, sales of organic wines soared from $27 million to $154 million. Year-over-year, organic wine sales increased 21% by value. Sales for natural wine cannot be tracked because the term has no definition.

Which one of the following Italian wines is not made using the appassimento method?

A. Recioto di Valpolicella

B. Bardolino

C. Torcolato

D. Amarone

Wow, this was a tough question, right? Bardolino is one of the most important simple wines of Italy’s Veneto region, but it is not made by the appassimento method. Recioto di Valpolicella, Torcolato, and amarone are all produced this way. The appassimento method involves taking whole bunches of grapes and spreading them on mats in special drying rooms or leaving them to hang in cool lofts, usually for a few months. This allows the water in the grapes to evaporate and their sugars to concentrate. As the grapes dry and raisinate, they can lose up to a third of their weight. Both dry and sweet wines can be made using this process, the best known being dry red amarone and the sweet red recioto di Valpolicella.

“Good wine is, by nature, fleeting, mysterious, ever-changing, subject to the imperfect, unpredictable nuances of weather, place and human judgement. It changes continually, reacting to temperature and touch, food and mood, its years in the bottle and its minutes in the glass. Whether it is cheap or expensive, those who love wine live for the thrill of the surprise, the sense of discovery, the pleasure of knowing that the best wines can take you places that you never anticipated.”

—Eric Asimov
The New York Times, May 17, 2017

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