2019 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

Amarone is a wine style that is often overshadowed by its famous neighbors in both Piedmont and Tuscany, but any lover of Italian reds needs to have this historic wine style on your radar. The wine is made through the appasimento process, which is the traditional method for drying grapes, which concentrates flavors and sugars to produces intensely flavored red wines of beautiful concentration. After harvest, grapes are dried for about 3-4 months to concentrate the sugars, flavors, and acid in the berries, after which they are fermented and aged for 3 years in large Slavonian oak casks followed by an additional year in bottle.

While some Amarone can be a little syrupy, Tommasi excels at producing examples with the same high acid freshness so often prized in Italian reds. The wines still showcase the concentration, spice, and earth notes in a lovely package that perfects sums up what we all love about Italian red wines. The opulent red and black fruit notes of cranberry, pomegranate and blackberry mingled with delicate aromas of violets, savory dried herbs, blood orange citrus, and firm tannins make this the ultimate Thanksgiving wine that will pair with just about any dish at your family gathering. 

95 Points from Eric Guido of Vinous: "The 2019 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico entices with a darkly alluring bouquet of crushed stones and dusty violet florals, accentuating notes of blackberries and hints of candied orange. This is sleek and racy in style, with lifted textures and polished red and blue fruits that flow across a stream of lively acidity. Remaining remarkably fresh through the finish, it tapers off with a confectionary air, leaving a resonance of violet pastille and crunchy tannins to linger on."