Amarone della Valpolicella - Lavagnoli

Lavagnoli's Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG is a wine that conveys, in both its name and its glass, the full identity of a Veronese family rooted in the region - a craft producer that makes its own Amarone with a traditional blend, rigorous drying, and aging in French oak tonneaux that balances structure and finesse in an harmonious, modern way.

Lavagnoli is a producer from Valpolicella that works with a family-oriented approach and respect for local traditions. The Amarone blend is particularly interesting and traditional: 60% Corvina as the backbone of the fruit and structure, 25% Corvinone for aromatic complexity and tannic roundness, and 15% Rondinella for freshness and floral notes.

The grapes are dried for 90 days in a traditional drying loft, with careful selection ensuring uniform concentration. Fermentation is long and respectful, followed by 30 months of aging in new French oak tonneaux - 500-liter vessels that lie midway between the 225-liter barrique and the large 20-30-hectoliter cask, providing more intense oxygenation than a large cask but less aggressive than a small barrique, along with finer, more elegant tannins that are less aggressive. This is followed by 12 months of bottle aging before release - more than 3.5 years in total from harvest to customer.

On the nose, it is elegant and complex: black cherry and sour cherry jam, blackberry, dried plum, cocoa, sweet spices (cinnamon, cloves), tobacco, withered violet, and a balsamic, mineral undertone that evokes the hills around Verona. On the palate, it is structured and enveloping - 16.5° of natural power, well integrated by glyceric sweetness, with tannins that are present yet already softened by long aging in tonneaux, vibrant acidity that ensures verticality and longevity, and a long, persistent finish with notes of black fruit, spices, and cocoa. Serve at 18-20°C after decanting for at least one hour. It shows at its best between 5 and 15 years after the harvest.