Requires 7+ hours of bottle air (no decant) to come out of hiding.

Nose: Violets, lavender, rose petals, candied strawberries, more violets, just a hint of brown spice, mocha, elmer's glue, raisins, and a hint of chocolate. Not necessarily as complex as this list would suggest because lots of tese descriptors are just me trying to fnd a way of identifying flavors that blend two or more other flavors together. Nonetheless, quite complex.

Palate: The palate focuses these flavors down thetoung emphasizing the violet nature of this wine along with lots of purple fruits.

The finish is long with lots of moderately fine tannins that were hard 5 hours ago but have now softened

Overall, I would say this is an excellent addiion to the $50 Amarone battlefield. It is not obviously better than Zenato or Bussola bg, the standard bearers in the price range, imo, but it is not obviously weaker either. 92, maybe 92.5 for drinking right now. Certainly at least 92.5 if not higher in 4 years when this is truly open for business.

I also like Begali's Amarone - they also made a very good Valpo in 2003 (good, but less so in 2004) and they make a nice Super-Venetian blend of Corvina, Merlot and Cab that is also tasty for around $27.