January 14, 2024 - Decanted for three hours. Almost twenty years old now, and still immensely impressive, concentrated and (relatively) youthful. Only top Australian wines can muster up such power at this age. The balsamic notes on the nose express its evolution, but the palate still bursts with minerally energy, and the potent tannins and vanilla from the wood drive through on the finish in unmistakeable terms. An uncomprising wine of huge extraction, power and proportions. Dwarfs most Amarones. Will it ever achieve harmony? Maybe in 20 years, and maybe never...
September 16, 2023 - Opened a bottle that fell flat within 15 minutes, acidic and harsh. I chalk it up to a bad bottle of an otherwise outstanding producer.
January 22, 2023 - Decanted for one hour. Pitch black in the decanter, red with an orange tint in the glass. Mesmerizing nose, Valpolicella om steroids. On the palate powerful with still marked tannins, vanilla from the barrens but above all a huge fruit where the first sip feels primary but it evolves with cherry, juniperberries, pepper and exotic spices. Very good to drink now but Will still evolve. More powerful than most Amarones without the raisins.
May 28, 2022 - Needed an hour to put itself together.
Menthol, camphor, black cherries, tar, smoke and spices to the Max.
This really grew on me.
May 2, 2020 - Pen ink and ether on the nose. On the palate, when first opened this showed black fruit that was almost overpowered by ether, with strong tannins on the medium to long finish. The ether taste faded over several hours, leaving powerful blackberry, black cherry, and currant, with notes of raisin, savory spice, and bitter tobacco on the long finish, with strong tannins, strong acidity, and slight alcoholic heat. If I had had a decanter handy, I would have used it on this; it needs a lot of air at this stage. The Cellartracker drinking window is probably a decade or more too short; this needs five years just to absorb more tannin. It's an average to good value at about $90, and comparable to Amarone in that price range, although it's more powerful than the average Amarone, which takes some doing.
September 14, 2019 - A massive wine at the moment. Tons of vanilla, dark chocolate, mocha notes on the nose. On the palette you get more dried yet juicy dark fruits followed by a huge wage of intense tannin profile. In my opinion it is currently drinkable but I would strongly recommend you try again 5 years later. Hopefully by then it calms down more.
March 10, 2019 - Deep purple, very concentrated, ink. Cooked fruit jam on the nose, mocha, coffee. On the palate thick and concentrated black cherry and black berry, alcohol is present but good acidity and strong tannins make it very appealing. Not an easy drinking wine, but a valpolicella is not for day to day consumption
September 30, 2018 - Charleston Offlineorama IV; 9/27/2018-10/1/2018 (Charleston, NC (various locations)): Yum - this was tasting really delicious with my hangar steak. Love the balance here between the dark, dark fruit and the acidity with lots of earth sandwiched in between the two. Really a fan of the Dal Forno Valpolicellas and this one with a bit of age is particularly nice.
June 2, 2017 - Geweldige wijn zwarte bessen aardse tonen viool
April 3, 2017 - In such a great place right now. Not a sign of being 13 years old. Rich and juicy black fruit on the full bodied palate. Long smooth finish. Could easily last until age 20.