2010 Amarone della Valpolicella
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Tasting notes
The 2010 Amarone della Valpolicella is an elegant beauty, with cooling herbal tones and cloves embellishing baked cherries and hints of incense. This opens with a lovely inner sweetness, its ripe red and black fruits energized by vibrant acidity. Violet florals and suggestions of cocoa swirl throughout. The 2010 finishes long—still slightly tannic yet coming into its own, leaving a mentholated freshness and a tinge of cinnamon spice that lingers on. While this is made in the older style of Dal Forno, sporting just over six grams-per-liter of residual sugar, 17% alcohol and 100% American oak, the balance is absolutely perfect.
Critic scores
Average Score
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Intense and concentrated, bitter cola, cocoa bean, chocolate, espresso, grilled and smoked cassis, lovely bright lift on the finish, a push and pull of bitterness, sweetness and salinity. Marco dal Forno director at this 34ha estate.
This was an excellent vintage in much of Italy, but unfortunately the weather was not as pleasant in this specific area of the Valpolicella. The season saw a lot of rain, and a good amount of fruit was cut and left on the ground because it could not be used. Considering these difficulties, Michele Dal Forno tells me he is "more than happy with the results." I tasted the 2010 Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta next to the 2009 vintage, and having these two wines side by side reinforces just how different they are. The 2010 vintages is sharper, more pointed and direct in comparison, and there is a tiny point of sourness on the close. This wine does not reach the same threshold for fullness, density or richness. It does come close. The wine's residual sugar measures between 5 and 6 grams per liter, which is normal for this wine, and the bouquet is redolent of familiar black fruit, raisin and spice. However, the wine feels a bit stuck in its tracks at the moment and is evidently experiencing a shy phase in its evolution. It has retreated.
This is a deeply communicative and articulate wine that boasts immense power and persistence. The 2010 Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta is a creation of enormous beauty and unflinching intensity. The wine speaks at loud volumes with black cherry, spice, tarry smoke, barbecue marinade and grilled rosemary. Those balsam notes add length and continuity to the bouquet. In the mouth, the wine is complete and penetrating. It wraps thickly over the palate to soothe and entice your taste buds. Yet there is enough crispness to keep it from feeling cloying or too heavy. There is a point of tannic astringency on the finish that will accompany this wine over the next decade of its aging evolution. For that reason, it's best to wait before popping the cork on this memorable vinous experience.
About the producer
Along with Giuseppe Quintarelli, Dal Forno Romano makes the best wines in the Veneto. The history of Dal Forno Romano, however, is much shorter, and its rise to fame much faster.