The 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva Le Origini is a dense and powerful wine that shows the dark fruit ripeness that characterizes this vintage. Grapes are air-dried for 120 days before being pressed and the wine rests in large oak casks for up to 36 months. It shows broad shoulders with budding aromas of dried cherry, plum, mesquite, barbecue smoke and chewing tobacco.

With a more aggressive oak regime, the 2008 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva Le Origini delivers generous intensity and loads of candied fruit and prune. The wine sees up to 12 months in tonneaux and is later moved to botte grande. The blend is 75% Corvina and Corvinone with 25% Rondinella that really shines through in terms of the intensity and richness. You’ll get some jammy fruit at the start, followed by long tones of exotic spice, black tar and teriyaki sauce. Drink 2015-2025. Bolla shares a unique relationship with the American market. Bolla’s 1950 Amarone was the first Amarone sold in the United States and Bolla Soave was the quintessential cheap Italian white four or five decades ago. The successful brand has no doubt seen its share of corporate drama, going from Bolla family hands to American giant Brown-Forman back to Italian hands under Gruppo Italiano Vini (GIV). Since 2008, Banfi Vintners was appointed Bolla’s exclusive importer for the United States and considerable investments were made. The people behind Bolla have always believed that Soave and Valpolicella would one day see a return to the limelight, and they were right. Bolla’s secret weapon is Director and Winemaker Christian Scrinzi, a notoriously hard worker, who has dedicated himself to turning the brand around. Every year I taste his wines, I notice slight increments in improved quality despite the large volume produced. Importer: Banfi Vintners, www.banfivintners.com.