Santa Sofia produces a fine bottle of Amarone in this warm and sunny vintage. Respecting classic lines, yet also showing the extra intensity and exuberance of a wine made with air-dried fruit, the 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico pours from the bottle with a dark color and rich density. This 15%-alcohol Amarone is concentrated but not too much, as you still take away those flavors of blackberry preserves, cherry confit, spice, tar, leather and smoked meat. There is a hint of sweet, jammy fruit on the finish. Some 80,000 bottles were corked up. The house blend is 70% Corvina and Corvinone with 30% Rondinella.

The 2012 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico holds on very nicely, even after the bottle is opened for a day, as I learned. This is a darkly concentrated and enriched expression of Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella (with anywhere from 90 to 120 days of dehydration) that completes up to 36 months of aging in large Slavonian oak casks. This is a full-bodied effort with a thick load of black fruit, spice, tarry smoke and moist chewing tobacco. The heat of the 2012 growing season adds to the intensity here. Production is an ample 76,000 bottles.

Almost overdone with Baroque-like embellishments, the 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is a big wine packed tight with decadent mesquite smoke, sweet sauce, barbecue tones and darkly ripened fruit. The mouthfeel is extremely chewy and soft, almost syrupy. This is a high-definition, wide-screen Amarone with surround-sound volume.