CLASSICO DOCG 2012
Amarone della Valpolicella / Monte dei Ragni
This Amarone is made from Corvina (70%) and Rondinella (30%) grapes grown on vines from the 1950’s. In a nearby orchard, Zeno set up a net between fruit trees, on which he places the grapes for drying. The branch of the vine that holds the bunch is tied to a vertical net, as to allow the single grapes, that do not dry out, to fall off. There is no forced ventilation with fans. When the grapes are “appassito” - dry enough to concentrate sugars and aromas, yet juicy enough to deliver must, they are pressed softly and left to ferment. After a long maceration on the skins, the wine is aged in French oak tonneaux of 500 litres for at least three years.
This Amarone 2012 was bottled in November 2016. Zeno did not make any Amarone in 2013 and 2014 due to rainy weather, which did not allow for the quality of grapes that Zeno wishes to have for Amarone. The next Amarone 2015 will be released in 2020.
This Amarone is juicy and already full of life. It has incredible depth and aromas of different kinds emerge over time, as if they were layered. There is plenty of ripe red fruit, cherry and plum above all, berries, cinnamon, leather, tobacco, mint, damp earth, rocks and minerals… a real treat for lovers of friendly, yet assertive and demanding great reds!
Zeno recommends drinking only after at least 10 years’ ageing, thus not before 2022.