Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella Case Vecie 2018

Brigaldara, based in San Pietro in Cariano in Veneto, makes this Amarone from Corvina, Rondinella and Corvinone grown in the Case Vecie vineyard, set on the high hills of Grezzana at around 450 metres, among the cooler, higher sites of the Valpolicella zone. Amarone is defined by appassimento, the months long drying of the harvested grapes on racks before pressing, which concentrates sugar, colour and flavour while a portion of the crop is lost to evaporation. The cool altitude here keeps acidity firm in the fruit, balancing the richness the drying creates. Fermentation of the dried grapes is slow and pushes alcohol high, here to 16.5 per cent, and the wine then ages twenty four months in French oak barrels and a further twenty four in foudre, where extended oxygen exchange builds dried fruit and spice complexity and rounds the tannins. The colour is dense garnet. The nose offers dried cherry, fig, prune and kirsch with cinnamon and other warm spice. The palate is full, warming and velvety, with dark chocolate and tobacco and a long, savoury finish held together by acidity. Serve at 18 degrees with braised beef, game or hard cheese.