A bit closed at first, but opened nicely with time. Not heavy, but explosive and well integrated flavors with a really long finish. Quintarelli is a genius imo
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Everything Quintarelli did was, at a minimum, special--and often extraordinary. This wine shows as well the amazing transformation of Valpolicella-type blends that he took from mediocrity into the fine wine category. Over the years, the Rosso ca del Merlo has evolved from a more rough-hewn wine into a more integrated melange. In that journey, however, I think that it has lost a little bit of its edge, and this bottling was very pleasant, but not exceptional. It needed two hours of decanting and developed a very nice lush, chocolate and tobacco undertone with the usual very dark black/red hue. The complexity was decent, the marriage with a gutsy Italian meal was very nice, but the satisfaction was not on the level of his great Amarone or the DFR Valpolicella.
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this was closed at first but after 5 hours in a decanter showed plenty of dry hot exquisite red and blue fruit. very clean elegant wine, not super extracted or rich, more balanced. very good bottle. not sure there's huge upside to holding for super long.
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Recent notes here are on point, plus licorice, kirsch and campfire smoke. Bursting with flavor. Lively and delightful. If I had any of these in my cellar, I would try very hard to resist drinking them for another 5-10 years.
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Italian night (Washington, DC): What a gorgeous wine. Loving the smoky, anise, pepper, tobacco complexities on the nose, along with dark, rich currant and plums. Full and grippy but suave and lively. Pretty fruit, but I’m most fascinated by these smoky, peppery, savory, earthy complexities that come out with air. Many years of sleep ahead.
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7/27/2023 - Inforred Likes this wine: 95 Points
A bit closed at first, but opened nicely with time. Not heavy, but explosive and well integrated flavors with a really long finish. Quintarelli is a genius imo
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10/3/2020 - Sotto325 wrote: 91 Points
Everything Quintarelli did was, at a minimum, special--and often extraordinary. This wine shows as well the amazing transformation of Valpolicella-type blends that he took from mediocrity into the fine wine category. Over the years, the Rosso ca del Merlo has evolved from a more rough-hewn wine into a more integrated melange. In that journey, however, I think that it has lost a little bit of its edge, and this bottling was very pleasant, but not exceptional. It needed two hours of decanting and developed a very nice lush, chocolate and tobacco undertone with the usual very dark black/red hue. The complexity was decent, the marriage with a gutsy Italian meal was very nice, but the satisfaction was not on the level of his great Amarone or the DFR Valpolicella.
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4/19/2020 - mike l. Likes this wine: 93 Points
this was closed at first but after 5 hours in a decanter showed plenty of dry hot exquisite red and blue fruit. very clean elegant wine, not super extracted or rich, more balanced. very good bottle. not sure there's huge upside to holding for super long.
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6/20/2019 - Gunakadeit Likes this wine: 95 Points
Recent notes here are on point, plus licorice, kirsch and campfire smoke. Bursting with flavor. Lively and delightful. If I had any of these in my cellar, I would try very hard to resist drinking them for another 5-10 years.
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3/23/2019 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 93 Points
Italian night (Washington, DC): What a gorgeous wine. Loving the smoky, anise, pepper, tobacco complexities on the nose, along with dark, rich currant and plums. Full and grippy but suave and lively. Pretty fruit, but I’m most fascinated by these smoky, peppery, savory, earthy complexities that come out with air. Many years of sleep ahead.
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