96 Points Decanter
A potent wine with a big, fiery personality with great impact. A lighter, perfumed, violet-accented aroma opens to reveal intense black and red fruit flavours with a delightful touch of herbal complexity on the edges. The tannins are firm, but the concentration gives promise for further aging.
95 Points James Suckling
Complex and deep nose with blackberries and subtle black dates, Chinese herbal medicine, porcini, chili chocolate and cocoa beans. Classic Amarone palate with an excellent balance between juicy freshness and dried fruit. Outstanding tannin quality here, with lots of resolve and finesse. Long and rather subtle, too. Textbook reference for quality Amarone today, with some modern drinkability despite the 16.5% alcohol. Delicious now, but better to hold for extra complexity.
93 Points Wine Enthusiast
This classic Amarone opens up with dark and ripe black cherry and plum mixed with sweet baking spices and roasted coffee. The wine's palate is focused on its primary blackberry fruit notes with chocolate and sweet and savory spices. The wine is well structured with supple tannins and a long finish.
92 Points Vinous
There's a spicy citrus twang that enlivens the dusty black raspberries and exotic spices that waft up from the 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico. It’s silken and deeply textural, with a bitter tinge of cinnamon and cacao up front that gives way to sweet wild berries and balsam herbs. There’s a wild air of autumnal spices and inner florals within, as well as saline-minerals that add salty depths. The 2017 finishes incredibly long but also youthfully tense and concentrated. There is a bit of heat that pokes out, but doesn’t get in the way, as nuances of rose and dark chocolate slowly fade. This beastly Amarone will require some cellaring to come fully into focus.
Winemaker Notes
This is a majestic, intense, ethereal wine, with notes of laurel and cherries in alcohol. The extreme balance of all its components makes it suitable for long aging.
