2014 Valpolicella Superiore

Dal Forno didn’t make any Amarone in 2014 – meaning the Valpolicella benefitted from the estate’s very finest fruit. The grapes are picked then dried for 45 days, creating a particularly rich and complex wine – an Amarone by most producers’ standards. The 2014 is plush and decadent. The nose is exotic, layered with aromas of cocoa, cloves, kirsch and damson, cloaked in a vanilla sweetness from the new oak (two years, 100% new). Intoxicating, the wine shifts every time you go back to the glass. There’s a tea-like note that is so Italianate, while the palate has a sour-cherry twist of freshness to offset the richness of almost viscous dark, dried fruit. The oak dominates the finish at the moment, the tannins firm and cedary, needing a little more time to integrate. Warming yet fresh, this is a wine of real finesse and depth.