Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva DOCG Fieramonte 2015

An excellent vintage to mark the first time on the Place for this Amarone, from a 420m altitude site on la Grola hill in Valpolicella. Dried herbs, cloves, sweet spices, and clear savoury mid palate, grilled coffee bean, and a clear bitter edge to the tannins as they build through the palate, giving a savoury finish. Give it a few minutes, and the bitter edge disipates and in its place you get a generous, richly spiced plum and Chinese spices, just so good – a complex layering of flavours to sink into. This is not always an easy style of wine to approach, and certainly it’s a niche market, but this is just a stunning wine, and should be sought out by anyone looking to understand why Amarone inspires such fervour. Inevitably the winemaking (long ageing) and the style of grape (dry hanging) mark the flavours, but there is site specific character here also. Ageing in barrel, then 18 months in vat and two years in bottle.