Zeni Amarone della Valpolicella Barriques 2016

Cellar for up to 20 years. Decant 1 hour before serving.

Set in the hills of Bardolino overlooking Lake Garda, the Zeni family have been crafting top quality local wines here since the 1950s when visionary winemaker Gaetano Zeni relocated the winery to this spot. The family’s roots in the area go back to at least the 1870s when the winery was first founded, and their strong local connections help them to source top quality fruit to supplement what they grow on their 25 hectares of estate vineyards.

This sumptuous Amarone is one of their flagship reds and makes a great introduction to this powerful and opulent style of wine. The fruit is carefully hand selected from their hilly vineyards set on limestone, marl and basaltic sedimentary soils. Once in the winery the grapes are left to dry out over the winter, the classic process used for making Amarone which helps concentrate the sugars and flavours. The fruit is then vinified as normal and transferred to French oak barrels for 12-24 months depending on the vintage.

The result is a decadent full-bodied red that’s bursting with dried figs, raisins, crushed wild berries and notes of woodsmoke, vanilla, spice and dark chocolate. The first sip reveals an intense dark core of fruit along with firm tannins, a smooth texture, and a well-developed structure that will help this wine mature beautifully in the cellar. Enjoy now with hearty red meat dishes or wait a few more years to appreciate the complexity of this punchy Amarone.