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+--- Thread: Campagnola Amarone (/thread-12293.html)
- stevebody - 05-18-2003
A STEAL at about $22 a bottle! Great fruit, lovely mineral character, bitterness on the finish...all there. Nowhere NEAR ready, of course, but will cellar beautifully. Buy this before the poor fool realizes he can get a ton more for it.
- Innkeeper - 05-18-2003
Vintage?
- Drew - 05-18-2003
Found the below blerb from the Pasadena Wine Merchants web page, FWIW.
1997 Campagnola Amarone della Valpolicella $22.99
From the heart of Veneto comes this uniquely crafted wine. Amarone is a blend of Corvina, Molinara and Rondinella grapes. Most of Amarone is produced with grapes coming in at harvest around 24% sugar, while other grapes are left on the vine to be picked much later and put out to raisin. Once these grapes have dried to perfection they are then incorporated into the rest of the fermentation producing a slight "raisiny" flavor with a touch of sweetness. Because of the higher sugars, most Amarone is higher in alcohol ranging between 15% and 17%. Most consumers would expect to taste the alcohol, but generally these wines are nicely balanced with some residual sugar disguising any hot traces of alcohol. These wines are unique to Veneto, and to my knowledge, no effort in California has been made to replicate this style of wine making. Good Amarone is an expensive process. Therefore, most Amarone from the likes of great producers such as Tommasi, or Masi, command prices well above the $40.00 per bottle level. Even at these prices, the wines are quite deserving. They are, in short, magnificent. We recently tasted the 1997 Campagnola Amarone and were duly impressed with its intense fruit and remarkable power. It far exceeds any Amarone we've tasted at this price level. The 97' vintage has proven itself time and time again in Italy and this is no exception. Remarkably balanced, dark, rich, and tasty, this Amarone is classic in structure and not shy in its fruit. For those of you who have not experienced an Amarone, this is your chance to explore greatness at a nominal price. We have secured a good supply of this with more on its way. At $22.99 we could not ask for a better wine.
Drew
- stevebody - 05-20-2003
Abject apologies: 1999.