Morópio Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2018

The reason we love the brothers Pier Paolo and Stefano Antolini is because they ignore the fashions and trends entirely, as you can tell by that gloriously retro label. In so doing, these two heroes are keeping the ancient traditions and history of Valpolicella alive. They sculpt terraces into the slopes, build dry stone walls to keep them in place, wrestle old vines in all weathers, and farm organically.

Morópio Amarone della Valpolicella Classico comes from the historic heart of the region and is created from a blend of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Molinara grapes harvest from vines planted in the 1970s. The grapes are dried until they’ve lost around 35% of their weight, concentrating the sugars and flavours within them. The wine is then aged in for two years in a mixture of oak, cherry, chestnut and mulberry wood barrels. What comes out of those barrels is possibly the most well-balance Amarone we’ve tasted in years. Don’t be scared of the high alcohol, it has no burn and carries it unnoticeably, probably because one is too busy concentrating on the dried flowers, black cherry jam, vanilla, dark chocolate cherry liqueurs, herby balsamic, pipe tobacco, floral honey, raisin and the joyous touch of sweetness.

Pair with wild boar sausage stew, salty mature cheeses, rich ragout or Mexican mole.