My Nostalgia Wine: Bolla Valpolicella Classico

When I was a teen in the early 1980's, my parents had a few go-to red wines that always seemed to be on the dinner table. My folks were not wine experts, but they liked wine, and had a few daily-drivers. One was Mouton Cadet Red Bordeaux. Another was Corvo, a red blend from Sicily, and they also often bought Bolla Valpolicella and Bardolino from Veneto, Italy.

My parents were born in Kansas. Rural Kansas. Very far from wine country. But they were ambitious. My mother had worked in a test kitchen developing recipes. My father had worked at a family grain elevator, earned a music degree, joined the army and played trombone and conducted in the army band during the Vietnam war era. 

My dad got into the life insurance business, and we moved to Milwaukee when I was very young, then we moved to Louisville, KY so that he could begin to build a local agency of his own. He was relentless, and very successful.

Wine became a staple at our dining room table. This was becoming a mark of sophistication in the late 1970's and 1980's. You drink wine at dinner. My parents were social climbers, and adept ones at that. They worked hard, and were willing to learn. We had neighbors that moved in from New York, and they definitely interested my parents more in art and wine. I was just watching.

They'd usually encourage me to try a taste or two once I was 14 or so. Sometimes I was at the dinner table, sometimes my younger brother were just milling about the margins of the company. I remember liking the lighter-weight Italian wines, particularly Bolla's Valpolicella. 

My friends drank beer, so that's mostly what I drank, too. As a teenager in Kentucky, you'll also cross paths with bourbon, which I largely pushed back (except on Derby days) until I was in my forties. 

I think I began to dabble in wine again in college. I specifically remember buying a cheap bottle of Valpolicella toward the end of my college stay and thinking, "I really love this!" Maybe it was just nostalgia, but in retrospect, I truly believe that Valpolicella is one of the absolute best starter red wines for anyone just beginning to develop an interest in wine. 

We all have our own paths through the universe of wine. There is an introduction, and usually, at some point, some taste of something that is a complete revelation. And then there is everything in-between.

 Thanks to my pal Shelby at Colangelo PR, I was recently able to revisit a bottle of Valpolicella Classico from Bolla.

Bolla 2023 Valpolicella Classico ($14) Medium-bodied and translucent, and fruity on the palate with violet, sour cherry, black pepper, and balsamico notes, it's a youthful (harvested only a year ago) wine that's easy-drinking and uncomplicated. It's not a great wine, but it's a good wine, definitely interesting, enjoyable, and reflective of the variety Corvina and the Veneto Valpolicella terroir. It's also a very versatile wine with food. I wish California produced more medium-weight wines like this, to be honest. It tastes like home.