Rare bottles are nice and all. But sometimes your mood (or your wallet) pulls you in a different direction–toward clunky glassware, red-sauce pasta, and BYOB.
Wine can be part of the occasion without being the occasion. Valpolicella knows this, and is a gracious guest at almost any table.
My bottle of the night is a Valpolicella Classico from Masi. The Masi Group is best known for their Amarone, but has a large portfolio of red, white, and sparkling wines from across Italy’s Veneto region.
The “Bonacosta” red blend is made from three traditional Veronese black grapes: Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara. I grabbed it from the bottom shelf at the bottle shop, tucked it under my arm, and set off to go inhale some linguine.
Following a local tip, I wind up at the homey Covino’s Pasta & Pizza in Plano. The dining room is like something out of a time-machine trip to the early 1990s: Checkered tablecloth, house-made desserts, and a $2 corkage fee. Nice!
The wine is ceremoniously uncorked and poured. In the glass, it’s a deep ruby color with a little transparency and a thin garnet rim. Aromas of red cherry, red plum, burnt rubber, herbal medicine, leather, rosemary, stewed raspberry, light menthol, and light anise. Oak influence, if present, is very light. It’s a wine dominated by deep red cherries and herbs.
Flavors of stewed plum, leather, cherry lozenges, light rubber and tar lead into a short-ish finish with sour cherries and woody stems of rosemary. Bright, medium-plus acidity frames a medium-bodied wine with tannins that show moderate grip. Alcohol is a sensible 12% ABV, bringing all the intense flavor of Corvina without the sugary passito hangover you can get when this variety is pushed to its limits.
In short, this is a solid gastronomic Valpolicella Classico! Dry, tasty with various courses, and straightforward rather than profound.
The fruit for Masi’s Bonacosta comes from the bottom of the hills in the Classico zone, where warmer temperatures and richer soils create an unpretentious soft and fruity wine. The 2022 Bonacosta is at the end of its recommended drinking window–the producer recommends opening it within 3 years of bottling–but it wasn’t lacking for fruit and has acquired some intriguing balsamic and earthy traits.
If you’re searching for your own BYOB bliss, don’t sleep on the Veneto. It’s normal to reflexively reach for Chianti on pasta night. But at this age and (under-$20) price point, I find that Valpolicella (and Veneto Merlot) can offer less-dusty fruit and more manageable tannins than Tuscan reds. It was killer with Covino’s crusty bread and clam pasta with spicy marinara.
Bottle: Masi “Bonacosta” Valpolicella Classico DOC (2022)
Variety: Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara
ABV: 12%
Suggested retail: $18.99
My rating: 8.6 (out of 10)
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own. (Hat tip to April for the dinner recommendation!)
Leave a Comment