Fermentation

Also known as primary fermentation, the process whereby yeasts convert the natural sugar in the grapes into ALCOHOL and CARBON DIOXIDE. The alcohol will remain a constituent of the wine that results, but in most cases, the carbon dioxide will be allowed to escape as a by-product.

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.

“Based on chemistry, DNA, ancient texts, art, ethnography and experimental archaeology, it’s clear that as humans, we are set up as biological creatures to drink alcohol.”

— Dr. Patrick McGovern, Director of Biomolecular Archaeology, University
of Pennsylvania, and author of Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture

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