Packaged in a special bottle with a retro-looking label and a handsome red wax capsule, the Brigaldara 2012 Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva San Floriano (with 5,000 bottles made) is a late-release wine that hits the market 10 years after the harvest. The aromas are evolved and tarry with spice, black fruit and dried apricot. Rosemary, clove and juniper berry also appear in the blend of Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella. This was a hot and dry vintage that saw early harvest dates and good conditions for the appassimento process. With pronounced tertiary definition and a hearty 16% alcohol content, you can pair this wine with wintery meat dishes or stews.

This is Brigaldara's top-shelf wine, and production in this vintage is limited to a mere 3,000 bottles. The 2011 Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva San Floriano sees the traditional blending blocks of the appellation—Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella—pushed to the limit of density, power and richness. The grapes are dehydrated for 120 days. Once fermented, the wine finds balance with two grams per liter of residual sugar, which you don't really taste, followed by a 16.5% alcohol content that you can't miss. Packed in between is black fruit, smoke and fragrant spice or cigar box. The wine is velvety smooth in terms of texture with soft, lasting tannins. It ages in barrique for two years followed by four years in large Slavonian 25-hectoliter oak casks. This was a hot vintage that was good for wines made with air-dried fruit. Enjoy it with spare ribs and polenta.

The beautiful 2007 Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva San Floriano already shows the sheer magic of bottle-aging with touches of leather, spice and dried fruit that play perfectly off one another. The wine is so incredibly lively and bright in the mouth: it is teaming with vitality and energy. Dark notes of tar and resin make appropriate background tones. This is a masterpiece Amarone that still has a long way to go. Drink 2015-2028. Brigaldara holds the Valpolicella banner high and makes some of the best Amarone available today. The 50-hectare estate is owned by the Cesari family and is home to extensive vineyards and olive groves. This beautiful collection of wines is absolutely unbeatable thanks to the excellent vintages (2010, 2009 and 2007) on offer now. Importer: Vinifera Imports, www.viniferaimports.com