Holy Moly Amarone (DP's, Goose Hollow, Portland OR): The nose is deep and layered with a distinct wood note striking immediately that lays back into black currants, black cherries, ground coffee, black raspberries, wood spice, vanilla extract, herbs, and some licorice. The full bodied feel is polished and balanced with crisp, medium acidity and silky, medium+ tannins. This is a real powerhouse and when it was revealed it wasn't surprising given how good it was. This is really in a groove and it feels like it will hold for a while.
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Needed air. Very darkly colored, with a really fragrant nose of ripe blackberries, dried rose petals, scented geranium, toffee candies. Powerful yet balanced, the palate seamlessly blends cocoa with cassis liqueur, bitter orange and roast chestnuts. Very long finish.
Outstanding, but what would you ideally serve this with? Might pair best with a very garlicky, gamey leg of lamb rubbed with herbes de province and a strong olive oil. Or cassoulet, perhaps.
Amarone tasting (at my home): Appearance: Color: Deep, inky red Clarity: Crystal clear Legs: Long, slow-moving legs Nose: Aromas: Ripe blackberries, dried rose petals, scented geranium, toffee candies, cocoa, cassis liqueur, bitter orange, roast chestnuts Intensity: Intense Complexity: Complex Palate: Body: Full-bodied Acidity: Medium-high Tannins: Medium-plus Alcohol: 16.5% Flavors: Blackberries, plums, raisins, chocolate, coffee, spices Finish: Long, lingering Overall: This Amarone is a classic example of the style. It is powerful and complex, with a deep, rich flavor profile. The fruit is ripe and concentrated, with a touch of sweetness. The tannins are well-integrated and the acidity provides balance. The finish is long and lingering.
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Dal Forno Romano Tasting (Hedonism London): The nose is so evocative and so herbal, it’s almost like a Chinato or Vermouth! It’s intensely savoury and woody, with notes of charred wood, grilled duck with griotte cherries, tea-soaked prunes, dried herbs, cracked black pepper, late season raspberries, violets. The alcohol is immense but perfectly integrated. It is concentrated but with a deftness, neither cloying nor mouth-coating. Pleasantly bitter. Very, very long and intense finish that evolves and has you coming back for more.
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Very deep dark purple-violet with lots of sediment floating around. Coffee and cigar tobacco on the nose. Thick, viscous, chewy texture with sweet blueberries dominating with smoke and dark fruits. Fantastic.
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Super youthful but still showing well with a zen-like texture and fabulous flavors of tarpit, black fruits and minerals. So lifted for a wine with such elevated alcohol which I don’t feel at all. That’s the magic of Dal Forno and Quintarelli and its what makes these wine so unique. Lovely with upside. 94+
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A brilliant wine. Chocolate, mint, a hint of eucalyptus, some rubber and a hint of tobacco. This could have well been mistaken for an Australian Shiraz. It maintains elegance and freshness, despite the high alcohol, which it integrates surprisingly well, even at room temperature.
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Wow. One of the densest wines I have ever tasted. Feels like you take a normal red wine and pressurize it. Lots of fruit and tobacco. A very special experience.
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This is a delicious wine. Truly outstanding (though not Quinatelli in its best years) . Opened 7 hours in order to slo ox. Decanted 5 hours before serving. It needed all of that. While it is ready with that much coaxing it will develop nicely for another 10 years and live far beyond that. Made in the Quintarelli style but with more softness, less tannic mass and complexity (not much raisin or a lot of earthy smoke). Plenty of chocolate,dark cherry,wet oak and an amazingly long finish on the palate. Bravo.
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Okay, my turn now. My words will likely be less poetic (and probably weirder) than SF's so bear with me. First we'll talk about my overnight gymnastics (the wine kind). I double decanted this Italian beauty about 24 hours (opened and poured into a decanter and let sit in the cellar for a few hours, then poured back into bottle, re-corked, and let sit overnight in the cellar) before we drank this masterpiece. A floor routine that I find consistently earns high marks for Amarone's and unapproachable big cabs alike. Dal Forno's Amarone is like a tardis of flavor once you get the door opened. I can wander inside for an hour just on one sip. A both impossible yet beautiful creation on which I will gladly spend my lunch money. This had everything you can imagine a red would have note-wise, and it somehow, miraculously, was woven together so finely and effortlessly for the absolute monster (and I say that in the best way) that this was. It was singing with the airtime it got. Can't wait for whoever's turn it is next to bring the '88 Amarone since we seem to be doing a decades party (but in all honestly I think we'd be happy with any year).
Old world, new world; old friends, new friends (sfwl's deck in warm and sunny Noe Valley): The brightest star in cyclist's lineup, he put this through some serious overnight decanting gymnastics before it showed up on my deck in sunny Noe Valley, at which point it was singing a sweet tune. All manner of rich, sweet fruit, led by black cherries, cassis, mixed dark berries, a slight citric note, plums, prunes, raisins, figs and probably any of their other fruit brethren you could find in a fruit Rorschach test, leather, deep forest spice, Xmas spice cake, dark flowers, wet earth and frogs, snails and puppy dogs tails and anything else the witches could find that morning, all backstopped notably by powerful tannins and acidity which was very present and partially integrated. Impenetrably blackish purple, full bodied enough for a straw to stand upright, legs like General Sherman (to clarify: the tree, not the man). Hugely but in no way unpleasantly tannic and acidic, not boozy but incandescently warm. Insanely complex, persistent and intense. I couldn't summarize this better than soyhead (who was on the invite list, but alas, fell off): whoa. 2021 hasn't exactly been a year for the ages, what with the persistence of covid, the crazy block party in the Capitol, and more personally, medical and sundry personal woes leaving me as a virtual shut in. And yet, this is the second tasting I've done in 6 weeks when some wonderful and extravagant soul has brought a funkin' DF AdV; is this a great country or what? While I've not gone back and compared the above notes viz those in the '98 supplied by A_M at the prior tasting, my sense is that this drinking similarly, at least for my not so sophisticated palate. This wine is insanely powerful, but like the 6'4" 350 guy in full pads running a 4.5 40, it moves well for a big man (or phrased more appropriately, it glides along, at least in a relative sense, for ever and ever, despite its 16+% abv). While this wine may not remind you of a '61 Latour (well, they are both red and contain alcohol), I admit to being perplexed by the scores this has received on CT. This wine is fabulously complex and anchored by tremendous structure; no Central Coast fruit bomb this. I know that some of the low scores, as is often the case for complex--dare I say, difficult?--reds are because CT'rs are drinking them, IMO, too early, do people not know how much air if not time these need to be anywhere near their best? And as for saying this isn't someone's cup of tea, this wine has total AdV typicity (albeit at a far higher quality level); if they weren't sure they liked AdVs, why not test drive the wares on the online wine clearinghouses or even the reasonably priced base models from reliably solid producers like Allegrini, Masi, Tomassi or Zenato (or if feeling a bit flusher, Bertani); did they have to find out they didn't like Amarones by wasting either the best or second best (Quintarelli is certainly in the discussion) bottling? Well, these are first world issues, and I do understand where some divisiveness on Amarones can come from, but if you like Amarones, if you air this out, or wait at least another 5-10 years, you'll be rewarded with a world class wine. After our last tasting, I was curious to pair this with something sweet, so I drank it against my wife's blueberry chocolate brownies, but this wine, even with its sweetish fruit, is just too structured and savory, IMO, to work with most desserts. Best to go with something similar to my earlier in the week pairing with the Castellini of the veal chop. I'm grading this just the thinnest of hairs behind both the '98 and the '08 Cerro Sur we drank. While the latter is just a matter of slight preference, I think that this wine, even with the tremendous depth and expressiveness it had on Saturday, is ever so slightly behind the '98 in those categories, but it sure would have been a pleasure to have had them side by side to see if I truly felt that way or if it's just my slightly addled memory playing tricks. Anyway, who's to say if in a decade, this will have caught, or even passed where the '98 is now. Time is on its side in a big way, but plenty good to go now with enough air. Huge gratitude to my new friend cyclist for suppling this stunning libation. 98+
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This wine opens up as elegantly as any wine ever could. Earth and cedar on the nose with Blackberry and plum. Velvet and Rich blackberry and chocolate.
Words do not describe this wine.
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whoa nose - black cherry, black licorice, smoke, spice mouth - concentrated black cherry, drink and rich, completely coats the palate. cocoa on the midpalate. potent.
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nose - blood, mint mouth - powerful yet fresh and long. cocoa, fig. mouthcoating. heme. unctuous. tasted blind and all the guesses pointed to the tuscan coast. improved since tasted nearly 2 years ago. like good Bordeaux, i say leave dal forno amarone alone for at least a dozen years before checking in. Hold.
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70% Covina and Corvinone, 20% Rondinella, 5% Oseleta and 5% Croatina aged 36 months in barrique. Tasted blind – Dark berry, sweet cassis, dark chocolate, polished. Full bodied, densely packed dark fruits and liquorice. Nebbiolo / Bordeaux blend from Tuscany? 2015? (85/100)
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A real contender! As a Quintarelli amarone devotee, I have always benchmarked all amarone by that style and standard. Most others are too sweet , too CA like or just not complex.
DFR Valpolicelli are, on the other hand, the best around. My past DFR amarone ( since his first in 1983) experiences were of a very high quality but less rich evocation of his mentor’s wines.
The 2008 is a winner. It requires every bit of 4 hrs decanting as it is young still shows acid and lack of balance after 2-3 hours. Masterfully woven elements of dark cherry, tart cherry, dark oak, moist briar, tobacco, fig and only a hint of the chocolate and tar that Q provides. As others note, there is elegance in this huge wine, and as the 5 th hour arrives the viscosity doubles, the acids recede and it becomes truly terrific, especially with meat.
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cracked open in honor of the patriarch's 70th bday, at the end of a whopping lineup. Still the most powerful wine of the bunch with immense concentration, very black cherry, and excellent acidity. young of course but showing well, however a true beast, not for fans of finesse
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Wine Spectator newbies; 10/18/2018-10/20/2018 (Marriott Marquis): Helped me understand the hype around this wine. I don't think of Amarone as elegant, but there is a certain elegance to this. A nice acidity that keeps the wine from feeling over done. More of the pretty red fruit flavors. We're heading to this area at the end of November and had hoped to visit, but turns out that is very tough to do (head of marketing referred us to head of wine making who referred us to head of marketing).
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Opague deep ruby. Intense ripe black fruits, expresso, toffee, lots of sweet spices, smoke, hint of game, wood and some leather. Full body, off dry, palate filling sweet tannins, layered rich flavours of ripe black, red & dried fruits, tar, smoky, sweet and pungent spices too. Powerful, long, yet perfectly balance. Delicious. Holding so well even prolonged airing. So long life ahead
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Decanted for 3 hrs, very deep ruby, dark fruit with a touch of chocolate & spice, med. tannins, very long finish; outstanding & drinking well with the long decant, definitely no rush
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2008 DAL FORNO ROMANO AMARONE della VALPOLICELLA- 17% abv; 60% Corvina, 20% Rondinella, 10% Oseleta, 10% Croatina; OMG, this is so serious and forward with tons of energy and pizzaz; it`s loaded with concentrated dark chocolate accents to the blueberry,, black currant and blackberry; one can expand their life expectancy to re-visit this when it reaches maturity.
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Wilson Daniels Dinner (Blackbird - Chicago IL): Blackberry, blueberry, dried blueberry with dark chocolate. Hinting at sweetness, but more like sweetness of a Maillard reaction. Lots of tannins, but they are able to stay in the background. Very long finish.
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nose - cocoa, prune, cinnamon, vanilla. deep and brooding. the smell warns my palate to brace itself mouth - Not refreshing. syrupy, dense, and potent in concentration. A deep cocoa liqueur flavor permeates and for some reason reminds me of sambuca though its been so long since having that I must be having olfactory hallucinations. There is an underlying resinous grape skin/grape seed flavor here that I find off-putting. Without a doubt this is massively concentrated stuff, but so is skunk spray. A year or two ago I opened a 2004 of this wine which everyone agreed was singing, but now on two occasions the 2008 has been a disappointment and almost undrinkable. Vintage, or just extreme impatience? I want to like these 2008s more than I do. Of note, later in the night this was tasted next to a 2003 Harlan, which also is a wine of great concentration, without any of the offensiveness. Bill comments I'm crazy to even considering open them today. Wait 20+ years. And even then its a maybe...
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nose - blueberry, cassis, cocoa mouth - chewy wine. a previously consumed '04 blindsided me and was my first and very memorable introduction to the Dal Forno Amarone, and if I recall correctly it had a fresher quality than this '08 which was, as expected, an unctuous, some said syrupy, rich, concentrated, surripe fruit bomb. When this made its appearance toward the end of the night , folks did not seem prepared by the palate freak out that it delivered. Delicious dark fruit that hits on all cylinders, with a raisiny quality that i dont remember in the '04, yet still, excellent acidity to keep this fresh. But the the bottom line is that, for no lack of trying, this wine didn't pair with anything, not even the steak. It was immensely better sipped and savored on its own. In a way it strikes me as being a red version of d'Yquem in spite of the fact that it is (close to) a dry wine.
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SLDS July 2016: Pencil, tar, blackberry, undergrowth and toasty oak. Fierce tannins bite into the palate and don't let go. Also shows off high acidity and while the fruit is powerful, this doesn't entirely feel like it is in balance. Nothing subtle about this, I do think it'll get better with time and I'd like to see it again in quite a few years.
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Complex nose, opening gradually to reveal currants, spices, florality and sultanas. Full-bodied, structured with very firm tannins that need time to resolve, rich fruit, high acidity and a long aftertaste. Very youthful. Needs time to express itself.
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Halpern Enterprises Portfolio Tasting (Toronto, ON): I can't believe how well this hides it's 16.5% alcohol. This wine is deep and rich, but still so complex and balanced. The nose is of ink, black cherry, leather, tar, a hint of appealing VA, truffle, mushroom, forest floor, marzipan, and herbs. The palate strikes amazing balance and produces a very appealing texture. The entry is vaguely sweet with moderate tannin and refreshing medium plus acid. Just a hint of green, some marzipan and the voluptuous deep rich fruit support a long finish. I was really quite taken with this wine.
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Berner Wine fair (cult wine tasting) (Bern,Switzerland): Deep, purple color. Fantastic, intense and developing Amarone nose with layers and layers of different scents: tar, licorice, bacon, fruit, espresso. On the palate the high and very well integrated acidity buffers the 16,5% abv quite well. Very velvety and round taste and a veeery long and beautiful finish. It has a very long and bright future ahead. Would like to taste it again in 5,10 and 15 years.
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A blend of Corvina (60%), Molinara (20%), Oseleta (10%) and Rondinella (10%). The grapes are dried for 3 months, after which they are aged for 2 years in new oak barriques. 16,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.
Concentrated, viscous and fully opaque black-red color. Ridiculously massive, super-concentrated nose with huge wafts of new oak aromas - heavily toasted oak, milk chocolate, smoke, vanilla and mocha coffee - along with extracted aromas of blackberry compote, black cherry marmalade, some jammy dark plums and a minty hint of herbal character. There are no words to describe the sense of concentration here. The wine is massively dense, extremely full-bodied and hugely concentrated - even syrupy-viscous - on the palate with massively extracted flavors of dark chocolate, mocha, toasted new oak spice, some overripe black cherries, a little bit of blackberry jam and a hint of pruney dark fruit. There seems to be a little bit of residual sugar here, making the wine feel slightly sweet, even off-dry. The acidity feels medium-to-moderate and the structure relies mainly on the massively extracted and grippy tannins. The finish is super-rich, powerful and rather sweet with noticeable tannic grip and intense, ripe flavors of sweet black cherries, molten dark chocolate, mocha, some sour cherry bitterness, a little bit of coarse oak spice and a hint of cocoa.
My guess was a super-extracted and ridiculously overdone Australian Shiraz. I never even thought of Amarone - or anything else Italian - because of the ridiculous over-oaking. Even though the fruit department shows incredible intensity, it's hard to get a clear picture of the wine because of the layers upon layers of new oak spice that make the wine feel more like viscous chocolate milkshake. I was just "ugh" because of the ridiculously high alcohol, overdone oak and distracting sweetness, but so were many other people as well - up to the point when the wine was revealed. Suddenly everybody seemed to go "ooohhh" and find while new dimensions of this wine they hated only moments ago. I tried to to that as well, but to no avail - to me this was at its current condition as pleasurable as a glass of tar. I can imagine this wine will become something much more interesting and harmonious once it gets some age, but I guess a humongous monolith of a wine like this will need at least several decades more. I'd love to taste an older dal Forno Amarone to see if they perform better with age, but I'm definitely not willing to pay 225€ for this and keep it in the hopes that I might like it in the future. I can see the appeal in a wine like this, but i have to admit that this is definitely not a wine made for my taste.
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Bootleggers/Dal Forno tasting Sep '15: We got there a bit late, but turns out the timing was perfect. This came out after the Superiore as we walked in - and it's clearly the flagship Dal Forno. Amazing smoky/BBQ nose, edamame, and some exotic fruit which were hard to place. Dark, deep purple colour. To taste, wow... supple, elegant, balanced to perfection. This is regal. Enjoyed a half glass over 20 mins and the flavours changed and grew in the glass over that time. Peter, the head 'Bootlegger', said the winemaker suggests this not to be matched with any food, a dedicated cocktail wine. I agree. Can see this living for eternity. Unfortunately I won't be spending $550 a bottle to find out. 95+ for now
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Bootleggers Wine Tasting: Herbs, chocolate, raisin, floral, licorice and blackcurrant - lots of complexity on the nose. The palate really has that raisined fruit character to it but the wine is lifted by freshness from the acidity and spirit from the alcohol. Finely detailed and textured, this is young and and powerful but shows great potential. Will improve a great deal from here on.
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Dal Forno Visit (Illasi, Italy): Similar dark opaque core with brilliant maroon rim; exotic nose, roses, dark fruit along with intense red, much more appassimento richness, penetrating, focused, sour plum, mineral, chocolate, elegantly rustic; some prune but the fruit is so clean, dark cherry, chocolate, strong tannin but feels polished, incredible mid palate, powerful and very age worthy; great stuff!; Michele said to pair by itself with a richly flavored cheese or very bitter chocolate; grapes from 10-12 vines are needed to make one bottle.
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Halleluja brothers & sisters! Overwhelming in spite of not even being close to ready to drink. Full/medium bodied, ink, liquorice, dark red fruit and lots of other tastes I don't have a name for. If it develops in this direction and is able to unleash this potential it will be HEAVENLY and nothing less, from 2018 or so. Ouch!
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Battle of bottles (Det Norske Teater, Oslo): Ap: dark purple red Ar: mure nose that opened upp after some minutts with Forrest berries, dried dark berries, bitter cherries, liqourice and dark chocolate Big bodied, concentrated with very good intensity. Appears dry, even with high sugar content. Very good length
50+4+13+18+8
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1/27/2024 - KeithAkers wrote: 94 Points
Holy Moly Amarone (DP's, Goose Hollow, Portland OR): The nose is deep and layered with a distinct wood note striking immediately that lays back into black currants, black cherries, ground coffee, black raspberries, wood spice, vanilla extract, herbs, and some licorice. The full bodied feel is polished and balanced with crisp, medium acidity and silky, medium+ tannins. This is a real powerhouse and when it was revealed it wasn't surprising given how good it was. This is really in a groove and it feels like it will hold for a while.
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12/6/2023 - KPB wrote: 93 Points
Needed air. Very darkly colored, with a really fragrant nose of ripe blackberries, dried rose petals, scented geranium, toffee candies. Powerful yet balanced, the palate seamlessly blends cocoa with cassis liqueur, bitter orange and roast chestnuts. Very long finish.
Outstanding, but what would you ideally serve this with? Might pair best with a very garlicky, gamey leg of lamb rubbed with herbes de province and a strong olive oil. Or cassoulet, perhaps.
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12/4/2023 - Yagil wrote: 94 Points
Amarone tasting (at my home): Appearance:
Color: Deep, inky red
Clarity: Crystal clear
Legs: Long, slow-moving legs
Nose:
Aromas: Ripe blackberries, dried rose petals, scented geranium, toffee candies, cocoa, cassis liqueur, bitter orange, roast chestnuts
Intensity: Intense
Complexity: Complex
Palate:
Body: Full-bodied
Acidity: Medium-high
Tannins: Medium-plus
Alcohol: 16.5%
Flavors: Blackberries, plums, raisins, chocolate, coffee, spices
Finish: Long, lingering
Overall:
This Amarone is a classic example of the style. It is powerful and complex, with a deep, rich flavor profile. The fruit is ripe and concentrated, with a touch of sweetness. The tannins are well-integrated and the acidity provides balance. The finish is long and lingering.
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11/11/2023 - mrgarreth Likes this wine: 96 Points
Dal Forno Romano Tasting (Hedonism London): The nose is so evocative and so herbal, it’s almost like a Chinato or Vermouth! It’s intensely savoury and woody, with notes of charred wood, grilled duck with griotte cherries, tea-soaked prunes, dried herbs, cracked black pepper, late season raspberries, violets. The alcohol is immense but perfectly integrated. It is concentrated but with a deftness, neither cloying nor mouth-coating. Pleasantly bitter. Very, very long and intense finish that evolves and has you coming back for more.
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7/24/2023 - TexasBob Likes this wine: 94 Points
Very deep dark purple-violet with lots of sediment floating around. Coffee and cigar tobacco on the nose. Thick, viscous, chewy texture with sweet blueberries dominating with smoke and dark fruits. Fantastic.
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7/20/2023 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
Super youthful but still showing well with a zen-like texture and fabulous flavors of tarpit, black fruits and minerals. So lifted for a wine with such elevated alcohol which I don’t feel at all. That’s the magic of Dal Forno and Quintarelli and its what makes these wine so unique. Lovely with upside. 94+
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3/2/2023 - G_H wrote: 96 Points
A brilliant wine. Chocolate, mint, a hint of eucalyptus, some rubber and a hint of tobacco. This could have well been mistaken for an Australian Shiraz. It maintains elegance and freshness, despite the high alcohol, which it integrates surprisingly well, even at room temperature.
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2/16/2023 - Yagil wrote: 94 Points
Amarone tasting (at my home): Hedonistic at opening
after 3 hours: outstanding, powerful, complexed, rich flavors
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1/28/2023 - Lewis6619 wrote: 100 Points
Decanted 3 hrs. Absolutely brilliant!
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1/13/2023 - Ldow4444 Likes this wine: 88 Points
Rich, intense flavor - smells like over ripe plums; tastes like stems, smoke and leather
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1/3/2023 - JohannesGlugla Likes this wine: 94 Points
Wow. One of the densest wines I have ever tasted. Feels like you take a normal red wine and pressurize it. Lots of fruit and tobacco. A very special experience.
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8/28/2022 - capacious Likes this wine: 94 Points
Uniquely evokes a “this is wonderful, but it’s different, it’s got….”
Drinking lovely, lengthy, got a decade to go.
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4/25/2022 - Sotto325 wrote: 94 Points
This is a delicious wine. Truly outstanding (though not Quinatelli in its best years) . Opened 7 hours in order to slo ox. Decanted 5 hours before serving. It needed all of that. While it is ready with that much coaxing it will develop nicely for another 10 years and live far beyond that. Made in the Quintarelli style but with more softness, less tannic mass and complexity (not much raisin or a lot of earthy smoke). Plenty of chocolate,dark cherry,wet oak and an amazingly long finish on the palate. Bravo.
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11/13/2021 - Cyclist Likes this wine: 99 Points
Okay, my turn now. My words will likely be less poetic (and probably weirder) than SF's so bear with me. First we'll talk about my overnight gymnastics (the wine kind). I double decanted this Italian beauty about 24 hours (opened and poured into a decanter and let sit in the cellar for a few hours, then poured back into bottle, re-corked, and let sit overnight in the cellar) before we drank this masterpiece. A floor routine that I find consistently earns high marks for Amarone's and unapproachable big cabs alike. Dal Forno's Amarone is like a tardis of flavor once you get the door opened. I can wander inside for an hour just on one sip. A both impossible yet beautiful creation on which I will gladly spend my lunch money. This had everything you can imagine a red would have note-wise, and it somehow, miraculously, was woven together so finely and effortlessly for the absolute monster (and I say that in the best way) that this was. It was singing with the airtime it got. Can't wait for whoever's turn it is next to bring the '88 Amarone since we seem to be doing a decades party (but in all honestly I think we'd be happy with any year).
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11/13/2021 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 98 Points
Old world, new world; old friends, new friends (sfwl's deck in warm and sunny Noe Valley): The brightest star in cyclist's lineup, he put this through some serious overnight decanting gymnastics before it showed up on my deck in sunny Noe Valley, at which point it was singing a sweet tune. All manner of rich, sweet fruit, led by black cherries, cassis, mixed dark berries, a slight citric note, plums, prunes, raisins, figs and probably any of their other fruit brethren you could find in a fruit Rorschach test, leather, deep forest spice, Xmas spice cake, dark flowers, wet earth and frogs, snails and puppy dogs tails and anything else the witches could find that morning, all backstopped notably by powerful tannins and acidity which was very present and partially integrated. Impenetrably blackish purple, full bodied enough for a straw to stand upright, legs like General Sherman (to clarify: the tree, not the man). Hugely but in no way unpleasantly tannic and acidic, not boozy but incandescently warm. Insanely complex, persistent and intense. I couldn't summarize this better than soyhead (who was on the invite list, but alas, fell off): whoa. 2021 hasn't exactly been a year for the ages, what with the persistence of covid, the crazy block party in the Capitol, and more personally, medical and sundry personal woes leaving me as a virtual shut in. And yet, this is the second tasting I've done in 6 weeks when some wonderful and extravagant soul has brought a funkin' DF AdV; is this a great country or what? While I've not gone back and compared the above notes viz those in the '98 supplied by A_M at the prior tasting, my sense is that this drinking similarly, at least for my not so sophisticated palate. This wine is insanely powerful, but like the 6'4" 350 guy in full pads running a 4.5 40, it moves well for a big man (or phrased more appropriately, it glides along, at least in a relative sense, for ever and ever, despite its 16+% abv). While this wine may not remind you of a '61 Latour (well, they are both red and contain alcohol), I admit to being perplexed by the scores this has received on CT. This wine is fabulously complex and anchored by tremendous structure; no Central Coast fruit bomb this. I know that some of the low scores, as is often the case for complex--dare I say, difficult?--reds are because CT'rs are drinking them, IMO, too early, do people not know how much air if not time these need to be anywhere near their best? And as for saying this isn't someone's cup of tea, this wine has total AdV typicity (albeit at a far higher quality level); if they weren't sure they liked AdVs, why not test drive the wares on the online wine clearinghouses or even the reasonably priced base models from reliably solid producers like Allegrini, Masi, Tomassi or Zenato (or if feeling a bit flusher, Bertani); did they have to find out they didn't like Amarones by wasting either the best or second best (Quintarelli is certainly in the discussion) bottling? Well, these are first world issues, and I do understand where some divisiveness on Amarones can come from, but if you like Amarones, if you air this out, or wait at least another 5-10 years, you'll be rewarded with a world class wine. After our last tasting, I was curious to pair this with something sweet, so I drank it against my wife's blueberry chocolate brownies, but this wine, even with its sweetish fruit, is just too structured and savory, IMO, to work with most desserts. Best to go with something similar to my earlier in the week pairing with the Castellini of the veal chop. I'm grading this just the thinnest of hairs behind both the '98 and the '08 Cerro Sur we drank. While the latter is just a matter of slight preference, I think that this wine, even with the tremendous depth and expressiveness it had on Saturday, is ever so slightly behind the '98 in those categories, but it sure would have been a pleasure to have had them side by side to see if I truly felt that way or if it's just my slightly addled memory playing tricks. Anyway, who's to say if in a decade, this will have caught, or even passed where the '98 is now. Time is on its side in a big way, but plenty good to go now with enough air. Huge gratitude to my new friend cyclist for suppling this stunning libation. 98+
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10/13/2021 - do_itforthewine Likes this wine: 97 Points
This wine opens up as elegantly as any wine ever could. Earth and cedar on the nose with Blackberry and plum. Velvet and Rich blackberry and chocolate.
Words do not describe this wine.
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1/18/2021 - soyhead wrote:
whoa
nose - black cherry, black licorice, smoke, spice
mouth - concentrated black cherry, drink and rich, completely coats the palate. cocoa on the midpalate. potent.
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9/18/2020 - soyhead wrote:
nose - blood, mint
mouth - powerful yet fresh and long. cocoa, fig. mouthcoating. heme. unctuous. tasted blind and all the guesses pointed to the tuscan coast. improved since tasted nearly 2 years ago. like good Bordeaux, i say leave dal forno amarone alone for at least a dozen years before checking in. Hold.
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6/3/2020 - Jammy Wine wrote: 85 Points
70% Covina and Corvinone, 20% Rondinella, 5% Oseleta and 5% Croatina aged 36 months in barrique. Tasted blind – Dark berry, sweet cassis, dark chocolate, polished. Full bodied, densely packed dark fruits and liquorice. Nebbiolo / Bordeaux blend from Tuscany? 2015? (85/100)
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4/16/2020 - Ltim BE Likes this wine: 97 Points
Absolutely brilliant wine.
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3/27/2020 - Larry&Ron wrote: 98 Points
Bottle was magnificent. tastes of truffles and figs.
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2/5/2020 - BenBlu wrote: 88 Points
This is not my style of wine. Simply too alcoholic, intense, a bit of sweetness, borderline port style.
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1/26/2020 - jsmorris707 Likes this wine: 96 Points
From memory, similar to prior notes; outstanding, drink or hold
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7/29/2019 - Sotto325 wrote: 95 Points
A real contender! As a Quintarelli amarone devotee, I have always benchmarked all amarone by that style and standard. Most others are too sweet , too CA like or just not complex.
DFR Valpolicelli are, on the other hand, the best around. My past DFR amarone ( since his first in 1983) experiences were of a very high quality but less rich evocation of his mentor’s wines.
The 2008 is a winner. It requires every bit of 4 hrs decanting as it is young still shows acid and lack of balance after 2-3 hours. Masterfully woven elements of dark cherry, tart cherry, dark oak, moist briar, tobacco, fig and only a hint of the chocolate and tar that Q provides. As others note, there is elegance in this huge wine, and as the 5 th hour arrives the viscosity doubles, the acids recede and it becomes truly terrific, especially with meat.
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7/10/2019 - AWBryce wrote:
Mint,blueberry, oak; sharp palate, firm tannin with balancing acidity, drying palate with very long dark berry finish. Needs time, but excellent.
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2/9/2019 - soyhead wrote:
cracked open in honor of the patriarch's 70th bday, at the end of a whopping lineup. Still the most powerful wine of the bunch with immense concentration, very black cherry, and excellent acidity. young of course but showing well, however a true beast, not for fans of finesse
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10/18/2018 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Wine Spectator newbies; 10/18/2018-10/20/2018 (Marriott Marquis): Helped me understand the hype around this wine. I don't think of Amarone as elegant, but there is a certain elegance to this. A nice acidity that keeps the wine from feeling over done. More of the pretty red fruit flavors. We're heading to this area at the end of November and had hoped to visit, but turns out that is very tough to do (head of marketing referred us to head of wine making who referred us to head of marketing).
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9/21/2018 - wineappellation Likes this wine: 96 Points
Opague deep ruby. Intense ripe black fruits, expresso, toffee, lots of sweet spices, smoke, hint of game, wood and some leather. Full body, off dry, palate filling sweet tannins, layered rich flavours of ripe black, red & dried fruits, tar, smoky, sweet and pungent spices too. Powerful, long, yet perfectly balance. Delicious. Holding so well even prolonged airing. So long life ahead
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8/11/2018 - jsmorris707 Likes this wine: 98 Points
Decanted for 3 hrs, very deep ruby, dark fruit with a touch of chocolate & spice, med. tannins, very long finish; outstanding & drinking well with the long decant, definitely no rush
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1/16/2018 - Blake Brown Likes this wine:
2008 DAL FORNO ROMANO AMARONE della VALPOLICELLA- 17% abv; 60% Corvina, 20% Rondinella, 10% Oseleta, 10% Croatina; OMG, this is so serious and forward with tons of energy and pizzaz; it`s loaded with concentrated dark chocolate accents to the blueberry,, black currant and blackberry; one can expand their life expectancy to re-visit this when it reaches maturity.
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8/23/2017 - Burgundy Al wrote: 93 Points
Wilson Daniels Dinner (Blackbird - Chicago IL): Blackberry, blueberry, dried blueberry with dark chocolate. Hinting at sweetness, but more like sweetness of a Maillard reaction. Lots of tannins, but they are able to stay in the background. Very long finish.
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12/17/2016 - soyhead wrote:
nose - cocoa, prune, cinnamon, vanilla. deep and brooding. the smell warns my palate to brace itself
mouth - Not refreshing. syrupy, dense, and potent in concentration. A deep cocoa liqueur flavor permeates and for some reason reminds me of sambuca though its been so long since having that I must be having olfactory hallucinations. There is an underlying resinous grape skin/grape seed flavor here that I find off-putting. Without a doubt this is massively concentrated stuff, but so is skunk spray. A year or two ago I opened a 2004 of this wine which everyone agreed was singing, but now on two occasions the 2008 has been a disappointment and almost undrinkable. Vintage, or just extreme impatience? I want to like these 2008s more than I do. Of note, later in the night this was tasted next to a 2003 Harlan, which also is a wine of great concentration, without any of the offensiveness. Bill comments I'm crazy to even considering open them today. Wait 20+ years. And even then its a maybe...
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8/26/2016 - soyhead wrote:
double decanted for a few hours
nose - blueberry, cassis, cocoa
mouth - chewy wine. a previously consumed '04 blindsided me and was my first and very memorable introduction to the Dal Forno Amarone, and if I recall correctly it had a fresher quality than this '08 which was, as expected, an unctuous, some said syrupy, rich, concentrated, surripe fruit bomb. When this made its appearance toward the end of the night , folks did not seem prepared by the palate freak out that it delivered. Delicious dark fruit that hits on all cylinders, with a raisiny quality that i dont remember in the '04, yet still, excellent acidity to keep this fresh. But the the bottom line is that, for no lack of trying, this wine didn't pair with anything, not even the steak. It was immensely better sipped and savored on its own. In a way it strikes me as being a red version of d'Yquem in spite of the fact that it is (close to) a dry wine.
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7/20/2016 - CamWheeler wrote: 90 Points
SLDS July 2016: Pencil, tar, blackberry, undergrowth and toasty oak. Fierce tannins bite into the palate and don't let go. Also shows off high acidity and while the fruit is powerful, this doesn't entirely feel like it is in balance. Nothing subtle about this, I do think it'll get better with time and I'd like to see it again in quite a few years.
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3/31/2016 - RayOB Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drank at 67
Nose of black cherry, blueberry and chocolate. Smooth round mouth feel with integrated tannins. nice length. Yum Yum
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12/13/2015 - Yiannis Likes this wine: 94 Points
Complex nose, opening gradually to reveal currants, spices, florality and sultanas. Full-bodied, structured with very firm tannins that need time to resolve, rich fruit, high acidity and a long aftertaste. Very youthful. Needs time to express itself.
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10/29/2015 - Wine Canuck wrote: 95 Points
Halpern Enterprises Portfolio Tasting (Toronto, ON): I can't believe how well this hides it's 16.5% alcohol. This wine is deep and rich, but still so complex and balanced. The nose is of ink, black cherry, leather, tar, a hint of appealing VA, truffle, mushroom, forest floor, marzipan, and herbs. The palate strikes amazing balance and produces a very appealing texture. The entry is vaguely sweet with moderate tannin and refreshing medium plus acid. Just a hint of green, some marzipan and the voluptuous deep rich fruit support a long finish. I was really quite taken with this wine.
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10/16/2015 - NoTrollingerPlease Likes this wine: 95 Points
Berner Wine fair (cult wine tasting) (Bern,Switzerland): Deep, purple color. Fantastic, intense and developing Amarone nose with layers and layers of different scents: tar, licorice, bacon, fruit, espresso. On the palate the high and very well integrated acidity buffers the 16,5% abv quite well. Very velvety and round taste and a veeery long and beautiful finish. It has a very long and bright future ahead. Would like to taste it again in 5,10 and 15 years.
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9/14/2015 - forceberry wrote: 88 Points
A blend of Corvina (60%), Molinara (20%), Oseleta (10%) and Rondinella (10%). The grapes are dried for 3 months, after which they are aged for 2 years in new oak barriques. 16,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.
Concentrated, viscous and fully opaque black-red color. Ridiculously massive, super-concentrated nose with huge wafts of new oak aromas - heavily toasted oak, milk chocolate, smoke, vanilla and mocha coffee - along with extracted aromas of blackberry compote, black cherry marmalade, some jammy dark plums and a minty hint of herbal character. There are no words to describe the sense of concentration here. The wine is massively dense, extremely full-bodied and hugely concentrated - even syrupy-viscous - on the palate with massively extracted flavors of dark chocolate, mocha, toasted new oak spice, some overripe black cherries, a little bit of blackberry jam and a hint of pruney dark fruit. There seems to be a little bit of residual sugar here, making the wine feel slightly sweet, even off-dry. The acidity feels medium-to-moderate and the structure relies mainly on the massively extracted and grippy tannins. The finish is super-rich, powerful and rather sweet with noticeable tannic grip and intense, ripe flavors of sweet black cherries, molten dark chocolate, mocha, some sour cherry bitterness, a little bit of coarse oak spice and a hint of cocoa.
My guess was a super-extracted and ridiculously overdone Australian Shiraz. I never even thought of Amarone - or anything else Italian - because of the ridiculous over-oaking. Even though the fruit department shows incredible intensity, it's hard to get a clear picture of the wine because of the layers upon layers of new oak spice that make the wine feel more like viscous chocolate milkshake. I was just "ugh" because of the ridiculously high alcohol, overdone oak and distracting sweetness, but so were many other people as well - up to the point when the wine was revealed. Suddenly everybody seemed to go "ooohhh" and find while new dimensions of this wine they hated only moments ago. I tried to to that as well, but to no avail - to me this was at its current condition as pleasurable as a glass of tar. I can imagine this wine will become something much more interesting and harmonious once it gets some age, but I guess a humongous monolith of a wine like this will need at least several decades more. I'd love to taste an older dal Forno Amarone to see if they perform better with age, but I'm definitely not willing to pay 225€ for this and keep it in the hopes that I might like it in the future. I can see the appeal in a wine like this, but i have to admit that this is definitely not a wine made for my taste.
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9/2/2015 - Jimmy_D Likes this wine: 95 Points
Bootleggers/Dal Forno tasting Sep '15: We got there a bit late, but turns out the timing was perfect. This came out after the Superiore as we walked in - and it's clearly the flagship Dal Forno. Amazing smoky/BBQ nose, edamame, and some exotic fruit which were hard to place. Dark, deep purple colour. To taste, wow... supple, elegant, balanced to perfection. This is regal. Enjoyed a half glass over 20 mins and the flavours changed and grew in the glass over that time. Peter, the head 'Bootlegger', said the winemaker suggests this not to be matched with any food, a dedicated cocktail wine. I agree. Can see this living for eternity. Unfortunately I won't be spending $550 a bottle to find out. 95+ for now
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9/1/2015 - CamWheeler wrote: 94 Points
Bootleggers Wine Tasting: Herbs, chocolate, raisin, floral, licorice and blackcurrant - lots of complexity on the nose. The palate really has that raisined fruit character to it but the wine is lifted by freshness from the acidity and spirit from the alcohol. Finely detailed and textured, this is young and and powerful but shows great potential. Will improve a great deal from here on.
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3/25/2015 - Rezy13 Likes this wine:
Dal Forno Visit (Illasi, Italy): Similar dark opaque core with brilliant maroon rim; exotic nose, roses, dark fruit along with intense red, much more appassimento richness, penetrating, focused, sour plum, mineral, chocolate, elegantly rustic; some prune but the fruit is so clean, dark cherry, chocolate, strong tannin but feels polished, incredible mid palate, powerful and very age worthy; great stuff!; Michele said to pair by itself with a richly flavored cheese or very bitter chocolate; grapes from 10-12 vines are needed to make one bottle.
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3/13/2015 - jeremy@ Likes this wine: 93 Points
HKMA Gourmet Dinner (HKMA Clubhouse.): Very strong stuff. jammy liqourice thick concentrated. full body takes time.
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12/10/2014 - dr_burry wrote: 87 Points
Undeniable quality, just not my cup of t... I mean, style of wine.
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10/16/2014 - JonasH65 Likes this wine: 97 Points
Halleluja brothers & sisters! Overwhelming in spite of not even being close to ready to drink. Full/medium bodied, ink, liquorice, dark red fruit and lots of other tastes I don't have a name for. If it develops in this direction and is able to unleash this potential it will be HEAVENLY and nothing less, from 2018 or so. Ouch!
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9/16/2014 - admid wrote: 93 Points
Battle of bottles (Det Norske Teater, Oslo): Ap: dark purple red
Ar: mure nose that opened upp after some minutts with Forrest berries, dried dark berries, bitter cherries, liqourice and dark chocolate
Big bodied, concentrated with very good intensity. Appears dry, even with high sugar content.
Very good length
50+4+13+18+8
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