2009 Amarone della Valpolicella Mazzano
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Tasting notes
The 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Mazzano is a profound and stunning expression. Amarone hardly gets better than this. This top-shelf wine opens to a midnight black appearance and virtually no light penetration. The bouquet is balanced and complex at the same time and this is no easy feat for a wine made with air-dried grapes. Prune, black plum, blackberry confit, smoke, tar and barbecue smoke appear with carefully measured intensity. There is a point of sourness on the finish and the alcohol clocks in a 16%. Care should be taken when pairing this wine with food. Aged cheese or fatty meat dishes would make a fitting contrast to the mouth-cleaning power of this very rich and powerful Amarone.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Clay soil at about 400 m, south-west facing and a little more west. Less botrytis than on the Campolongo di Torbe because the drying place is more exposed to the wind. 75% Corvina/Corvinone, 20% Rondinella, 5% Molinara. Three years in a mix of new and older 600-litre Slavonian and French oak. RS 3.45 g/l, TA 6.4 g/l, pH 3.49. Much darker fruited than the Campolongo di Torbe, even some cassis here, with cherry and spice. More lifted, savoury, much drier and more tannic. Lovely dry finish. Some fruit cake and spice, roasted potato skin. Dry, savoury and dark. (JH)