While old habits may indeed die hard, fortunately reinvention is the mother of, well, modern Valpolicella. As New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov recently recounted, "Back when I was a child, Valpolicella meant the cartoon Italian accent of countless radio commercials for a mass-produced wine...The generations who followed knew Valpolicella mostly through hearing it disparaged as a thin, insipid wine. Fact is, it was insipid most of the time. Commercial producers had taken the easy way, abandoning difficult-to-farm hillsides for vineyards on the flats, where high yields of dilute grapes were easy." But recently, he follows, "with new seriousness of purpose, many producers have rededicated themselves to Valpolicella." His pick for best of the bunch? Vaona, which "pulsed with bright, vibrant cherry flavors and floral aromas. It typified ... a classically styled Valpolicella, with a structure that comes from acidity rather than oak and a delicacy that, with the wine lightly chilled, might go well with seafood."
