Sunday 3 August 2008

Corte Giara Amarone Della Valpolicella 2004

Veneto, Italy, $213, cork seal

This is probably the most widely available and reasonably priced Amarone in Hong Kong. From what I can discover Corte Giara is a side project of the Veneto producer Allegrini who started the brand to make approachable and value-driven, yet regionally true wines. Like all Amarone you'd assume this to be a blend of Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara.

The dark, inky colour of this gives a hint of things to come. My mate started with a big "how's the nose" and he was spot on in how amazingly intense and complex this smelt. I detected aromas of black cherry, olive, prunes, spice and raisins all wrapped up in a little porty sweetness. The palate took time to open up but when it did there was liquorice, red berries, cherry and a little spice. I was really impressed by how well this wine fitted together. The 15% alcohol was integrated and only showed itself as a pleasant touch of warmth on the tail end; there was plenty of acid that gave it a lively freshness, while the tannins were soft and approachable. Corte Giara Amarone Della Valpolicella 2004 was a lovely wine that beautifully balanced intensity with refreshment; power with approachability.

2 comments:

Bill Tieleman said...

Thanks for this - picked up a bottle & wondered when to try it.

Andrew said...

Hi Bill

I really enjoyed wine and think it would be pretty good to go now. I did give it a decent decant for a couple of hours before drinking though.

It was a while ago that I drunk it now and I'm pretty sure I've seen the 2005 around.

Cheers
Andrew