2017 Speri Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Vigneto Monte Sant'Urbano
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The organic Speri 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano has a bright and fruit-driven bouquet with dark fruit, candied cherry and a sun-drenched aroma somewhere along the lines of rum cake or raisin. This Amarone offers good balance underlined by power (with a 15% alcohol content), fruit weight and concentration. Speri is a grounded winery that offers consistent quality year in and year out. That's true even in a hot and challenging vintage like 2017. Some 92,000 bottles were released.
Critic scores
James Suckling
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano is dusty and darkly alluring, as dried flowers and incense gives way to nuances of cocoa and, with time in the glass, a vivid note of black cherry. This is texturally deep and savory in style, coming across as almost salty in character, with an intense and saturating core of raspberry and cherry. Exotic spices, dark, dark chocolate and clove develop toward the close. This tapers off long and staining, lightly structured, needing only a short stay in the cellar to come together. Speri did a remarkable job of maintaining balance in such a warm and difficult vintage.
A fresh, lightly exotic nose, offering dates, figs, fresh earth and a hint of toasted coconut. On the palate thereâs a fresh, focused bead of ripe and dried fruit, riding equally intense, firm tannins. Long finish. From organically grown grapes. Thereâs a youthful feel to this. Itâs just at the start of a long life. Give it a year or so to settle in. Best from 2023.