Amarone della Valpolicella - Dal Forno Romano

The Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG by Dal Forno Romano is one of the most extraordinary, debated and coveted wines in all of Italian winemaking — a wine that divides critics between those who regard it as the most extreme and courageous expression of the Valpolicella and those who see it as an absolute masterpiece of concentration and power. In either case, no one remains indifferent.

Romano Dal Forno built his legend in Cellore d'Illasi in the eastern Valpolicella with an approach that has no equal in Italy: viticultural yields reduced to absolute minimums — often no more than 500 to 700 grams per vine, versus the 2-3 kg standard for the appellation — late harvests with berry-by-berry selection in the finest vintages, extended appassimento for 4 to 5 months in climate-controlled drying rooms, very long fermentations and ageing in new French oak barriques for 3 to 4 years. The result is a wine of concentration and complexity that defies categorisation and that frequently exceeds 17% alcohol — not as a defect, but as the natural consequence of an uncompromising pursuit of perfect ripeness.

On the nose it is overwhelming in aromatic intensity and persistence — a wine you smell, then set aside because it is impossible to absorb all its complexity in a single moment. Black cherry and blackberry preserve bordering on jam, pure cacao, espresso, oriental tobacco, fine leather, vanilla, cloves, balsamic, resin and a deep rock-and-earth minerality that emerges slowly after hours of decanting. On the palate it is as dense as any wine in the world — an almost tactical concentration, with massive tannins that with time become fine silk, an almost Recioto-like sweetness intertwined with a surprising fresh acidity and a finish that evolves for minutes in successive waves of fruit, spice and minerality. Mandatory decanting of at least 3 to 4 hours is required — better still, the day before — and it expresses its full depth only after 15 to 20 years from the harvest.

Produced in very few thousand bottles per year, distributed through a handful of selected retailers worldwide. Owning a bottle of Dal Forno Amarone is already a rare privilege in itself.