2017 Dal Forno Romano Amarone della Valpolicella, Veneto

The current release. A tour de force, despite the sheer morass of palate-staining fruit. The malty oak is evident, yet operates as a welcome adjunct to corral and compress the swash buckle of coffee grinds, beef bouillon, mint, leather varnish and saturated dark cherry liqueur, into a sheath of tension as much as sheer power. Grapes are dried for 70-80 days. This may seem obvious initially, but as one works it out in the glass and across the inner gums, the multitudinous layers become evident. A wine that shape-shifts and beguiles, as much it wrestles with the senses. Excellent. Drink or hold.

98 points jamessuckling.com

Dal Forno’s Amarone della Valpolicella is a radical reinvention of one of Italy’s most famous wines. It is impenitent, intoxicating and a provoking wine. Dal Forno uses extremely low yields and an austere selection process admitting only the most exceptional grapes. The global wine market has an insatiable demand for the world’s greatest wines and Dal Forno’s Amarone has been called the ‘Petrus of    the Veneto’. The Wine Advocate’s Monica Larner recently embarked on a retrospective tasting back to the 1990 vintage to assess ageing potential: 'The results were nothing short of stunning... Dal Forno’s greatest wines transcend vintage to bring us an exceptional portrait of one of the world’s most ambitious wines... Michele Dal Forno, one of Romano’s three sons, tells me his family is considering releasing their Amarone ten years after the harvest in order to give the wine even more time to evolve. Indeed, many of the bottles tasted in this retrospective were opened the evening before my visit to the winery. The drinking windows for the newer vintages tasted in this report extend 30 to 50 years.’