Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico Riserva 2018
James Suckling 95Falstaff 95Decanter 94
Wine Description
Amarone Riserva Sergio Zenato is the wine the house holds highest, named for the founder and grown at the Costalunga estate above Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella, in the Classica hills. Corvina leads the blend with Rondinella and small parts of Croatina and Oseleta; the bunches rest about four months on drying racks, losing water and gaining depth, then ferment slowly on the skins for 15 to 20 days. Aging runs around four years in large French oak casks with a further year in bottle before release.
The 2018 is young for a Riserva, packed with black cherry, raisin, chocolate and spice, its structure still tight and built for many years ahead. Serve at 18 °C, decanted for an hour or two, alongside braised beef cheeks in Amarone, pastissada de caval as done in Verona, roast game or aged Monte Veronese; it also holds its own after the plates are cleared.
Winery
Zenato was founded in 1960 by Sergio and Carla Zenato at San Benedetto di Lugana, on the southern shore of Lake Garda, where Sergio did early, serious work with the native Trebbiano di Lugana grape. The family later added the Costalunga estate at Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella, in the hills of the Classica zone, and it is from there that the Amarone, the Ripassa and the Corvina wines come. The second generation now runs the house, Nadia Zenato on the commercial side and her brother Alberto in production, farming some 95 hectares of family vineyards split between Lugana and the Valpolicella Classica.
