Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Riserva 2018
Wine Description
Musella's Amarone Riserva is the estate's selection work made visible: Corvina and Corvinone 70%, Rondinella 20% and Oseleta 10% from the best biodynamic parcels, dried about four months in a ventilated room until the grapes lose 35% of their weight. After a soft pressing and a cool, slow fermentation finishing on the skins in January, the wine ages 24 months in French tonneaux and larger casks of 700, 1,500 and 3,500 litres, then at least a year in bottle.
The 2017 is a dense, bright garnet, with morello cherry and cherries in alcohol over bark, humus and oriental spice; the palate is silky and soft at 16%, the tannic frame dense but balanced. The producer's own pairing advice is dark chocolate of serious quality; we would add braised beef cheeks, roast game or aged Monte Veronese. Decant an hour and serve at 18 °C.
Winery
Musella lies inside a walled estate of over 400 hectares at San Martino Buon Albergo, on the eastern edge of the Valpolicella, where vines share the land with woodland, olive groves and fruit trees. The Pasqua di Bisceglie family set up the winery in 1995 and farms its roughly 25 hectares biodynamically, with Demeter certification, indigenous yeast ferments and a light hand in the cellar under winemaker Enrico Raber. The range runs from Valpolicella Superiore and Ripasso up to Amarone, Amarone Riserva and Recioto, all built on Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella.
