Amarone della Valpolicella - Riserva - Hatteso - Garbole

Garbole's Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Riserva Hatteso is the rarest and most ambitious wine from a winery that has already shown, with Heletto and Hurlo, that it follows no convention - and with Hatteso takes this vision to its most extreme limits. A Riserva born from the same radical philosophy as its younger siblings, but with longer drying, even more extended aging, and a concentration that challenges every category.

The name "Hatteso" echoes ancient linguistic roots of the Verona area - a mysterious name for an equally mysterious wine, which reveals itself slowly and never fully unveils itself upon the first opening. Like Heletto with Oseleta and Hurlo with its nearly extinct grape varieties, Hatteso is made from a blend of extremely rare native Veronese varieties - Oseleta above all, but also other local varieties of ancient tradition that Garbole safeguards and cultivates as irreplaceable genetic heritage.

Production is limited to a few thousand bottles a year, available at a very small number of selected retailers worldwide. The grapes are dried for a significantly longer period than a standard Amarone - more than 120 days in some cases - and aging in wood exceeds the legal minimums for DOCG Riserva (at least 4 years between wood and bottle), often with much longer periods that allow the wine to develop a complexity and integration that take years to reach their peak.

On the nose, it is astonishing and utterly unique: wild black fruits in a dense preserve, pine resin, ancient Oriental tobacco, aged fine leather, exotic spices (long pepper, star anise, cardamom), bitter dark chocolate, damp woodland earth, and an almost metallic iron-like minerality that calls to mind the rocks of the Negrar hills, where Garbole has its roots. On the palate, it is dense and enveloping - massive tannins that, after years of aging, have transformed into an almost tactile texture, profoundly glyceric sweetness, an acidic freshness that miraculously survives the concentration, and a finish that evolves for minutes in successive waves of ever-increasing complexity. A meditation wine in the most absolute sense - to be opened at least 4 hours in advance, tasted in silence, and not shared with anyone who does not know how to wait.