($50, Cru Artisan Wines): As good as Sartori’s Valpolicella and IGT Veronese wines are, this wine shows that Amarone deserves the reputation it has and why it has been awarded DOCG status. From grapes grown in the vineyard, Corte Brà, around the winery, this Amarone has great power without sacrificing elegance or complexity. Young and vibrant, it has the barest hint of raisiny flavors, earthiness and richness with an appealing tension between ripe and savory flavors. It finishes with a beautiful bitterness. It’s still a very young wine that ideally needs another decade to settle down and round out, but it is remarkably enjoyable now if it were 20 degrees outside and you had a leg of lamb in the oven.
93 Michael Apstein Aug 26, 2014