Is this…

The PERFECT wine for the holidays? Winter? Wednesday nights?

Amarone under $30 with 98 points?! YES! The answer is most definitely yes. The only question remaining is how many will you get?

If you’ve never had an Amarone, this is the perfect gateway wine into a fascinating and delicious style unlike anything out there. Especially the price - you’ll be hard pressed to find a decent Amarone for under $50. Most soar well up to $100 and beyond.

Inky deep black as a Black Friday week deal… Amarone, as the fans will recall, is a powerfully hedonistic rarity from the Veneto region in Northern Italy. It’s made with air-dried grapes, which basically wither down to raisins prior to fermentation. This process concentrates extract inside berries, bringing out all kinds of fascinating phenolics and aromatics.

The result? Terrifically rich and seemingly sweet depth and complexity, while remaining dry as can be. Think Zinfandel - but with a little more oomph, spice and style. Since the grapes lose so much volume, you get a lot less juice in the end, with a lot more effort here’s a cool video of the process:

For that reason, Amarone lives up to its reputation and its name, a play on the words amaro, as in bittersweet and amore, love. It routinely hits $100+ per bottle simply because it costs a fortune to make very little. We rarely see much in these parts, especially with points and reasonably priced.

This Wine Spies Exclusive is by the Bennati family, who have been at it for over a century, making Amarone, Valpolicella, Pinot Grigio, and Prosecco – basically all the sought-after wines of the Veneto. Defining the style to expect, a Forbes article by Dr. Susan Gordon finds them “meaty with an umami vegetable-broth aspect, dense, juicy, tannins and acidity woven into an overarching texture. So delicious… along with Amarone’s prune and clove signature: ‘fresh cherry, Valpolicella-like; mint; tea; sharp and herbal,’ I noted for others like Albino Armani, Antiche Terre Venete, Bennati…”

Density and elegance, power and balance are all in play simultaneously. Contradictory as those may be in the same glass, this pulls it off, avoiding over-the-top ripeness and heaviness that commonly appears in Amarone. You sense that the fruit is ripe, for sure, but it does not reveal too much sweetness. The finish is quite dry and the hefty 15% alcohol is well-balanced. Aging in traditional botti for a couple of years sure contributes to the irresistible depth and complexity.

The countdown to zero bottles has begun…

98 Points – Luca Maroni

“Deep red hue with a violet rim. Intense aromas and flavors of stewed plummy fruits, Christmas spices, and freshly made blackberry jam. A harmonious balance of unbridled power and Baroque art levels of textural complexity.”