Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Friday, May 6, 2022 - Typically a blend of Corvina (70%), Rondinella (20%), Croatina (5%) and Oseleta (5%). Although the wine is labeled as "Valpolicella Superiore", it's vinified almost like an Amarone: the grapes are dried in a ventilated room for 1,5 months following the harvest. After the grapes have been raisinated, the wine is fermented and macerated in stainless steel for two weeks. Aged in new oak barriques for 24 months, after the wine is filtered and bottled. The wine is not released before aging in bottles for a minimum of three years. 14,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Rather deep and quite opaque cherry-red color with an evolved maroon hue. The nose feels dense, ripe and sweet-toned with fragrant aromas of boysenberries and cherry marmalade, some ripe plummy tones, a little bit of raisiny dark fruit, light oaky nuances of savory wood spice and cacao, a balsamic hint of VA and a touch of old leather. The wine is ripe, quite concentrated and textural on the palate with a full body and subtly sweetish flavors of cherry marmalade and bilberry, some boysenberry tones, a little bit of sour cherry bitterness, light woody notes of savory oak spice and cacao nibs, a hint of pruney dark fruit and a balsamic touch of VA. The overall feel is quite muscular and structured, thanks to the high acidity and quite ample tannins that contribute both to the dense texture and moderately grippy structure of the wine. The finish is rich, textural and moderately grippy with bold flavors of cherry marmalade, savory wood spice, some pruney tones, a little bit of sweet bilberry, light balsamic notes of VA, a hint of sour cherry bitterness and a touch of exotic spices.

Other people guessed Californian Merlot, Australian Shiraz and other new world wines, whereas I immediately thought that this tasted like Amarone - probably 15-20 years old - and guessed accordingly. I was told it was close enough to be correct, but when prompted to guess the producer, I never thought of Dal Forno. This is because all the Dal Forno wines I've tasted (that have been noticeably younger) have been so heavily oaky that I never thought the oak influence would subside so quickly. I have been told the wines are completely different after 20-25 years of aging, and now that I've tasted one, I must say that it really seems to be the case: although the oak influence still lingers there, this doesn't taste like a concentrated milkshake of dark chocolate and toasted oak spice, but instead a surprisingly refined wine that has those balsamic and dried-fruit characteristics typical of Amarone, but enough sense of finesse and balance to come across as fine wine, not an over-oaked blockbuster. I'm positively surprised. Although I'm not fully convinced if the wine is actually worth the price (75€), this is nevertheless probably the best Dal Forno wine I've tasted.

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