2022 Bolla Valpolicella Classico DOC, Veneto, Italy
Christian Zulian, winemaker of Bolla, joins Carolyn Evans-Hammond to discuss what may be one of the best value wine styles in Italy today—and why that is. Then, they taste a bottle together.
This segment was styled by Andrews in Toronto, one of Carolyn’s favouite places to shop.
Carolyn Evans-Hammond is a seasoned wine critic, media personality, and best-selling author. And she’s on a mission to find you your next great wine. Connect with her here: https://linktr.ee/thewinefind
[Music] welcome to the winefine talks today we have a very special guest from the vena region of Italy it’s the wine maker for Bola Christian zulian welcome thank you so much for joining us thank you for having me now today we’re talking about vichella that light Lively chisp wine from the venido that I’ve always loved but it’s interesting I think because I think it’s now becoming one of the most undervalued styles of red wine in Italy and I think it’s because of global warming can you comment on that yeah you know Caroline climate change is affecting very much the Y the must and the great composition and sometimes also the geography the of the of the wine cultivation is changing as you know valella classica is located in Northern Italy very close to the Alps and it is a cool climate wine region in the past inv valella was not easy to achieve a proper level of ripening grapes were poor in color and sometimes also a poor in in tanins now with the climate change we are facing New Opportunities and in our case climate change you know could make our life a little bit easier well I’m noticing it in the glass for sure you’re getting that ripeness and yet the prices are not any higher than they’ve always been really I mean there’s gradual inflation but I love the value proposition in the glass because of what exactly what you’re talking about yeah you’re right about you know the ratio between price and quality we have to you know to think that valella is the little brother of amaron amaron is our most prestigious wine varieties are the same but you know about the price value point of view Valpolicella for sure is a more affordable one Bol has been around for what about 150 years and it’s certainly one of the more respected names in the Veno but my question to you is what differentiates you from other wineries so we have been making wine since 1883 and we have a very big knowledge of our Vineyards and all other wine making techniques but what makes us special I think is our attitude our attitude is that a great quality of a wine especially of a wine of vichella is the drinkability m I love that so personally I want to make wines that people can really enjoy with food so and I think Bola Winery is very a very food friendly Winery so important because wine is not consumed in a vacuum you know it’s consumed with friends at the table exactly with family yeah yeah and vichella you know is having a very interesting Renaissance in Italy according to the style you don’t have to forget that vichella is a cool climate wine so so it’s crisp it’s refreshing it’s light in color acidity is very good and this style fits very well the the the pallets of a lot of people I love that that light lifted thing is seasonally appropriate too because right now it’s you know we going into spring and summer certainly where I live so so what are we tasting today we are going to testing Valpolicella classic aola 2022 M okay walk me through tasting yeah so the color is very is very brilliant on the nose the wine expresses very clean note of red fruits especially sour cherries and don’t forget Caroline sour cherries is are the typical marker of Corvina Corvin rondinella grapes our typical grapes I think you can also appreciate some very interesting spicy notes pepper green and Rosé pepper yes I love that it’s rich though it’s bright like you’d expect certainly drinkable lifted light bodied but there’s mid pallet stuffing that there too and the wine has has also a very nice backbone yes the structure is fantastic and a bit of length too exactly so tell me Christian what do you like to enjoy back in Italy with a glass of this wine so very simple Italian Dish spaghetti Al Pomodoro oh I love it I love it I love it few leaves of basil oh perfect now I’m hungry well thank you for joining us and uh Cheers Cheers [Music]