Amarone

There is no announcement calendar for this wine. No planned release date, no market strategy. Marco Dal Forno has opened his treasure trove – and pulled out the 2011. That's all you need to know. Romano Dal Forno makes his decisions in the vineyard, not in the cellar. Only vines over ten years old provide grapes for the Amarone – only the best sites on Monte Lodoletta. After the harvest, three months of appassimento in the drying rooms of the well-ventilated Lodoletta: the berries lose up to 40 per cent of their weight, what remains is concentration in its purest form. Fermentation in steel tanks with computer-controlled pump-overs, at least 24 months in new barriques, then years – many years – in the bottle. The vintage itself was full of surprises: started cool, exploded in August, cooled down for the harvest.

Dal Forno's Amarone della Valpolicella 2018 is, as always, convincing across the board. With a little air, the tannins soften and release a variety of intense dark aromas and flavours. Dark chocolate, cloves, violets, plums and blackberry jam coat every inch of the palate in a stunning Amarone that captures all the best qualities of the vintage. When Romano Dal Forno's wines are on a roll, there's nothing quite like it, and that's certainly the case here. Needs a lot of air when young, experienced connoisseurs will practise patience. SUPERIORE.DE

In the gentle hills of Mezzane di Sotto, where the Monti Garbi rise majestically over the eastern Valpolicella, lies the centrepiece of the Tenuta Sant'Antonio: Campo dei Gigli – the field of lilies. The oldest vines of the brothers Armando, Tiziano, Paolo and Massimo Castagnedi are rooted here, on calcareous white soils with sandy-loamy inclusions at an altitude of 300 metres. A single vineyard that produces a unique wine. Since 1989, the Castagnedi family has embodied the revolution that changed Valpolicella forever: quality instead of quantity, while everyone else was still focussing on quantity. Forty-year-old vines, trained on the traditional Pergola Veronese with only 3,300 vines per hectare, bear the cuvée of 70% Corvina and Corvinone, 20% Rondinella and 5% each of Croatina and the rare Oseleta. The appassimento – the mystical drying period of at least three months – transforms the hand-picked grapes into concentrated essence.

The name already gives away the meaning: "Bepi's red wine", dedicated to Giuseppe "Bepi" Quintarelli, the man who took over his father's winery after the war and led it to worldwide fame. But this wine is not a nostalgic gesture – it is the answer to one of the most difficult questions in viticulture: what does a perfectionist do in a year when nature does not give enough for an Amarone? 2016 was such a year. Cooler conditions, demanding ripeness – not an Amarone vintage by Quintarelli's uncompromising standards. So the family vinified Rosso del Bepi instead, that rare wine that is only produced in such years and shows what great producers can achieve with patience and mastery, even from difficult harvests. The grapes – 55% Corvina and Corvinone, 30% Rondinella, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, Croatina and Sangiovese – are dried as for Amarone. Twenty days of maceration, followed by 45 days of slow fermentation. This is followed by 84 months in large Slavonian oak barrels, seven years of patience.

Brigaldara's Amarone Riserva is a wine born from the desire to interpret Valpolicella in its most original form. The strictly selected grapes that form its basis are chosen from the best vineyards in order to maximise the potential of the estate's own vineyards in Valpolicella.

The name Tre Terre refers to the origin of the grapes for the Quintarelli family's new masterpiece: they come from the municipalities of Negrar, Marano and Sant'Ambrogio. Its style, with its more pronounced tannins, spiciness and tangy acidity, differs greatly from the winery's classic Amarone range. Red cherries and herbs come to the fore, and overall it has an astonishing minerality and objectivity for Amarone, which makes it more recognisable as an aristocratic Barolo than a more powerful Amarone. Very idiosyncratic in its interpretation, but with its rough edges as always in a class of its own! SUPERIORE.DE

At Quintarelli, the release of magnum bottles also follows a relentless logic: what matures in 1.5 Litersneeds more time. The 2017 Amarone in standard bottles came onto the market in 2024 – after seven years of barrel ageing. The magnum will only be released now, in 2025, one year later, as the wine develops more slowly, more deeply and with greater inner harmony in the large format. The 2017 marks one of those exceptional vintages that Giuseppe "Bepi" Quintarelli's heirs deemed worthy of becoming Amarone. The cuvée of 55% Corvina and Corvinone, 30% Rondinella and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, Croatina and Sangiovese undergoes the legendary ritual: five months of appassimento until the end of January, deliberate promotion of botrytis, 20 days of maceration, 45 days of slow fermentation with wild yeasts, then seven years in large Slavonian oak barrels. This process takes on an additional dimension in the magnum.

A monument of wine! Brilliant dark ruby colour. Fresh, silky, elegant - and majestic. Blackberry jam, violets, bittersweet chocolate, plus crushed rock and minerality. An opulent wine with fabulously polished tannins and considerable ageing potential. SUPERIORE.DE

A monument of wine! Brilliant dark ruby colour. Fresh, silky, elegant - and majestic. Blackberry jam, violets, bittersweet chocolate, plus crushed rock and minerality. An opulent wine with fabulously polished tannins and considerable ageing potential. SUPERIORE.DE

At the time, Marco Dal Forno initially held back his Amarone from the 2016 vintage – he released the 2017 vintage earlier because 2016 was not yet ready. At Dal Forno Romano, the wine determines the schedule. This is all the more true for the large formats: they are released three years after the 0.75-litre bottle – i.e. another three years later than an already later release. What this means for 2016 can be felt in the glass. Created under conditions that demand everything in the Val d'Illasi: three months of appassimento in the well-ventilated drying rooms of the Lodoletta, controlled fermentation in steel tanks with computer-controlled pump-overs, new barriques made from French and American wood, then the large format that requires hours of aeration – that needs hours of aeration before it begins to open.

At the time, Marco Dal Forno initially held back his Amarone from the 2016 vintage – he released the 2017 vintage earlier because 2016 was not yet ready. At Dal Forno Romano, the wine determines the schedule. This is all the more true for the large formats: they are released three years after the 0.75-litre bottle – i.e. another three years later than an already later release. What this means for 2016 can be felt in the glass. Created under conditions that demand everything in the Val d'Illasi: three months of appassimento in the well-ventilated drying rooms of the Lodoletta, controlled fermentation in steel tanks with computer-controlled pump-overs, new barriques made from French and American wood, then the large format that requires hours of aeration – that needs hours of aeration before it begins to open.

A monument of wine! Brilliant dark ruby colour. Fresh, silky, elegant - and majestic. Blackberry jam, violets, bittersweet chocolate, plus crushed rock and minerality. An opulent wine with fabulously polished tannins and considerable ageing potential. SUPERIORE.DE

A monument of wine! Brilliant dark ruby colour. Fresh, silky, elegant - and majestic. Blackberry jam, violets, bittersweet chocolate, plus crushed rock and minerality. An opulent wine with fabulously polished tannins and considerable ageing potential. SUPERIORE.DE

A monument of wine! Brilliant dark ruby colour. Fresh, silky, elegant - and majestic. Blackberry jam, violets, bittersweet chocolate, plus crushed rock and minerality. An opulent wine with fabulously polished tannins and considerable ageing potential. SUPERIORE.DE