Elegant and graceful, the Giuseppe Quintarelli 2015 Amarone della Valpollicella Classico shows a little more textural weight and intensity that is in line with this vintage that saw easily ripened fruit over a very warm and sunny growing season. The house style prizes a tight and linear approach with dried fruit aromas, pressed rose, apple chips, camphor ash and fragrant lavender bud. The mouthfeel in 2015 is both generous and focused (and fueled in part by a powerful 16.5% alcohol content) with an especially long-lasting finish.

The Quintarelli Giuseppe 2013 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico pours from its heavy glass bottle to reveal a dark ruby and shiny garnet appearance. The bouquet takes a few moments before it comes into focus, and even then, this wine holds back a bit, especially at this young stage in what promises to be a very long cellar life. It's in no rush. The mouthfeel is especially impressive, and it brings a heightened level of texture and life to the wine. Black fruit and dried plum segue to spice, campfire ash, camphor and grilled herb. A silky and polished mouthfeel is capped by a powerful 16.5% alcohol content. This vintage will appeal to Quintarelli purists who have plenty of time to wait.

This wine is only made in the best vintages, and the next release is 2011. The 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is a mysteriously ephemeral wine but also a very powerful one at the same time. The alcohol content is 16.5%, and this is one of the most important indicators used when deciding that a vintage is good enough to make Amarone. This wine shows a deep, dark color that is reinforced by thick density and smoky aromas that lift from the glass, followed by exotic spice, campfire ash, camphor and plenty of dark plummy and raisiny fruit. The bouquet reveals outlying aromas of bitter chocolate and crushed slate. In the mouth, the wine offers plenty of ripeness and fruity sweetness, but there is enough supporting structure here to absorb both the sugar and the alcohol. There is a sweetly fragrant earthy note on the long and silky finish.

This finely tuned version hits a sweet spot, offering an integration of creamy tannins, lightly juicy acidity and an ample range of flavor, with baked currant, rich, smoky mineral and wild herb notes accented by hints of orange peel, leather and cacao. Displays density and power through to the lasting, spiced finish, but this remains graceful, caressing the palate throughout. Drink now through 2032. 120 cases imported. — AN

The 2007 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico was bottled seven months before I tasted it. Grapes undergo a four-month appassimento for extra concentration and intensity. Despite this heavy-handed winemaking technique (in which the clusters lose up to 30% of their water mass in the air-drying process), this is a surprisingly delicate and nuanced wine. The aging process has definitely broken down and assimilated any of the hard edges that come from dried grapes. In its wake, the wine is polished and tight with a long, silky texture.