Ullage

Ullage (ULL-edge) is the air space that develops inside a wine bottle’s neck and shoulder because wine has been lost through leakage or evaporation. In a bottle with significant ullage, the wine will often be oxidized and spoiled. In a wine auction, a wine with even a small amount of ullage will not command a top price.

Which of the following is not a fortified wine?

A. Amarone

B. Ruby Port

C. Madeira

D. Sherry

Big, rich, and grand maybe—but Amarone is not fortified. Amarone or as it’s officially named, Amarone della Valpolicella, is the highly concentrated, powerful, dry red wine of the Veneto region of Italy, made using the regional grape varieties corvina, corvinone, and rondinella (and sometimes others). The grapes are dried before they are fermented according to a traditional and painstaking method known as appassimento. During this process, the grapes are spread on mats in cool lofts where they will lose 40% of their moisture. The grapes dry for up to 120 days. This process raisinates and concentrates them before they are slowly pressed and then ferment for a languorous 35-50 days. Amarones can age 40 years or more, and because they are intense wines, many wine drinkers hold them for about 10 years before drinking.

You can read Karen’s past review of the ALLEGRINI Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico 2009 here. And watch her #TasteWithKaren virtual tasting with CEO Marilisa Allegrini here.

1.2

Approximate amount (in millions of U.S. dollars) of an acre of vineyard land in the most desirable parts of St. Émilion, the Right Bank appellation of Bordeaux that, along with Pomerol, makes some of the… Continue reading

Ullage

Get WineSpeed