Classic or clunker?

[mummr]

I have two bottles which I received as gifts and plan to serve on New Year's eve. I would like to know about the quality, value, and any tasting experiences of:

1980 Vintage BV Rutherford Napa Valley Cabernet Savignon

1983 Masi Classico Amarone Recioto della Valpolicella

Thank you

[Innkeeper]

The first could be wonderful. The second is dead.

[Jerry D Mead]

That Amarone might fool you!

[tomstevenson]

Curmy's right, the Amarone will be far from dead. It's one of the paradoxes of this subject that any wine made in a deliberately oxidative style, as Amarone is, will generally outlive most other wines. The difficulty is knowing when they are going over because the sherry-like aroma of acetaldehyde found in such wines when they are young is the tell-tale sign of decay in any other style. Eventually, however, the fruit fades, but if mummr has kept the wine in reasonable conditions (Amarone is not invulnerable, but it is less fussy than most wines when it comes to storage), there should still be plenty of fruit left in the 1983, although I find that Massi produces better Ripasso than Amarone.

[mummr]

Thank you all for your guidance. We had the '83 Amarone on New Year's eve...and it was excellent. No! Make that exquisite!

I'll be on the lookout for more Masi wines.