Impromptu Reflection On My Favorite Subject – Amarone
This blog post was not planned for today – nope, had totally different ideas in mind. And then the comment arrived on one of my older posts (click here to see it). And the comment was more of a question, which definitely stroke a chord – someone was looking for that perfect Amarone moment, exactly the same way as I was trying to replicate mine…
Yes, I responded to the comment, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to reflect on the magic of Amarone – and practical impossibility of re-creating that magic “at will”. That full-bodied, perfectly dry but rich, voluptuous and perfectly balanced (you will have to forgive my use of double-perfect wording) which I experienced only once (I’m talking again about 1997 Le Ragose Amarone) – was almost never replicated in any of the wines I had. The only two which come close were 2001 Masi Mazzano Amarone Classico, and believe it or not, 2000 Carlisle Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. I have one wine on my “must try” list – Giuseppe Quintarelli Amarone – which must be magical based on what the others are saying, but this wine would really require a [very] generous sponsor…
Out of curiosity, I decided to check on the classic Amarone at the Wine Spectator web site – there are only 11 Amarone which have “classic” rating (95-100 points) throughout all the years:
| Wine | Vintage | Score |
Release Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michele Castellani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cinque Stelle | 2005 | 96 | $105 | |
| Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella | 2004 | 96 | $NA | |
| Lorenzo Begali Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Monte Ca’ Bianca | 1997 | 95 | $NA | |
| Lorenzo Begali Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Monte Ca’ Bianca | 2004 | 95 | $70 | |
| Michele Castellani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cinque Stelle | 2003 | 95 | $64 | |
| Michele Castellani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cinque Stelle | 2007 | 95 | $75 | |
| Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella | 1998 | 95 | $480 | |
| Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella | 1997 | 95 | $370 | |
| Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella | 2003 | 95 | $425 | |
| Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Mazzano | 1999 | 95 | $120 | |
| Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico | 1988 | 95 | $NA |
As you can see, Wine Spectator is not much of a help…
Have you ever experienced the magic of Amarone? Do you have a favorite? Let me know! Cheers!
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I have tried several Amarones over the years and I still do not quite ‘get it’. Maybe when we get together we should have a good one and you can walk me through it…
I would gladly do it. The challenge is to find the right Amarone – that is not easy at all. When it is “the one”, the contrast between amazing nose of raisins and other sun-dried fruits (a promise of sweet wine, right?) and almost bone-dry, full bodied, dense and powerful wine is completely mind boggling – I practically never experienced that with the other wines. Usually, if you get blueberry pie on the nose, you will find it on the palate – and this is not the case with the good Amarone. But again, finding that good Amarone is anything but easy…