Valpolicella seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. Not literally, of course. The vines are still growing there in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy, and the bottles are still being filled and shipped. Yet this once ubiquitous wine now seems kind of absent. Back in the 1970s and ’80s, even American children knew of Valpolicella.

Commercials for one of the biggest brands, Bolla, played regularly on radio and television, and the euphony of the phrase was as catchy as Orson Welles declaring that Paul Masson would sell no wine before its time. Well, you don’t see much interest in Paul Masson, either, nowadays. And come to think of it, TV commercials for wine are pretty rare, too. But the shifting marketing strategies of big brands are less interesting to me than what has become of Valpolicella.