Degani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico La Rosta 2018

You can’t find this anywhere else in the country, and if you love Amarone...this single vineyard, artisan production is a must in your collection! Year after year, it just over-delivers in terms of quality, value, and utter deliciousness...simply exceptional stuff. 92 points and 58% off...let’s go!

Degani is simply one of the best Amarone producers, run by the same family since 1900. This is their “Cru” offering of La Rosta – the best fruit, from the most revered and oldest parcels, aged for another year in barrel, and only made in the best vintages...simply put, Amarone at its finest!

The single estate La Rosta (only made in the very best vintages) is made in the traditional style (the best parcels of grapes are air-dried on special wooden mats for three or four months before fermentation which increases the intensity and ripeness). 40% corvina grapes, 30% rondinella, 25% corvinone, and 5% altre grapes...aged for three years in barrel and will last virtually unchanged for DECADES!

This is definitely NOT FOR THE SHY! We’re talking hedonistically rich and unctuous yet somehow, magically, all in perfect balance with a freshness that seems impossible given its monstrous proportions and bubbling ebullience. Ripe, concentrated, intensely savory, and full of gusto, this is packed with sweet plums, fig jam, cola, dark black cherry, sarsaparilla, roasted almond, coffee liqueur, pastilles, mocha-covered coffee beans, rose water....simply goes on forever. Fantastically rich mouthfeel, aromatic chai-like spice, and creme de cassis flavors. Definitely not for the “super light, elegant wine” crowd, but if you like ‘em ripe and affable, generous and lip-smacking, this is IT. So good! Amazing wine, and sure to please, but sadly, not a lot to go around. The perfect companion for your holiday table.

PAIRING IDEAS: Ideally, I’m serving this with a smoked ham, basted with a spiced black-strap molasses that I thinned slightly with apple cider, before finishing with a bruleed brown sugar crust. Tell me that doesn’t make you drool...