2015 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico | MG

There's an almost-woodsy character to the 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico. It opens with a complex blend of woodland herbs and underbrush giving way to wild berries, cinnamon sticks, shaved cedar and crushed rocks. It's surprisingly energetic yet still quite potent, with an intense wave of ripe red fruits offset by hints of spiced citrus and cloves. This finishes remarkably long, yet it maintains a vibrancy seldom seen from Amarone, as autumnal spices and staining of raspberry preserves taper off under an air of violet-tinged florals. 

- Eric Guido (12/2022)

The fruit is dried for four months, before six to seven years in large format wood. Nebbiolo-esque aromas of tar and roses, with a core of anise, sweet cherry liqueur and mocha to coffee grind notes. The dried fruit extract, beautifully compressed into a transparent veil of weightlessness and rapier-like intensity. There is power, to be sure. But the overall impression - as with any great wine of this corpulence - is savory. Wonderful sappy length, funnelled through a vortex of tannin. Excellent Amarone. Drinkable now, but best from 2026. 

- Ned Goodwin (04/2023)

Elegant and graceful, the Giuseppe Quintarelli 2015 Amarone della Valpollicella Classico shows a little more textural weight and intensity that is in line with this vintage that saw easily ripened fruit over a very warm and sunny growing season. The house style prizes a tight and linear approach with dried fruit aromas, pressed rose, apple chips, camphor ash and fragrant lavender bud. The mouthfeel in 2015 is both generous and focused (and fueled in part by a powerful 16.5% alcohol content) with an especially long-lasting finish. 

- Monica Larner (10/2023)