MASI Amarone Classico Costasera 2018/2019

$111.99

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 1 customer rating

“A really fresh and well-balanced Amarone here, with tapenade, ripe but fresh blackberries, chili chocolate and some red berries, too. This is tight and juicy, with a medium-to full-bodied palate and a long, fruity finish. A modern, fresh expression of Amarone that shows immense drinkability, but still pretty serious. Not super-concentrated, but shows restraint and balance. Drink or hold.” James Suckling

Description

Masi Amarone Classico Costasera

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Amarone

A benchmark for the Amarone category, which, together with Barolo and Brunello, makes up the aristocracy of the Italian wine world. The product of Masi’s unrivalled expertise in the appassimento technique, whereby traditional grapes for the Valpolicella Classica area – Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara – are laid out on bamboo racks to concentrate their aromas during the winter months.

Amarone is the product of a wine-making method the Ancient Romans knew called “appassimento” and involving grape drying. At the end of September or the beginning of October, the best clusters of grapes from hillside vineyards are picked and laid out on bamboo racks in special lofts equipped with the NASA “natural appassimento” control system. By the end of January the grapes had lost 35% of their original weight and have highly concentrated sugars. This time only the Corvina grapes were naturally attacked by noble rot. The processes that follow are: soft pressing; partial destalking; 45 days fermentation in large Slavonian oak barrels or stainless steel vats at low, natural temperatures; transfer into barrels of 30-40 hl where the alcoholic fermentation continues for 35 days in the presence of selected alcohol resistant yeasts; and malolactic fermentation.

About Wine

Area: Veneto

Serving temperature: 18-20° C

Alcoholic content: 15% vol.

Storage life: 30-35 years

Grape varieties: Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara.

Appaxximento: Masi’s expertise in grape drying technique

Look: very dark ruby red

Nose: baked fruit, plums and cherries

Palate: fruity tastes, with hints of coffee and cocoa. Very well balanced.

Food pairing: Excellent as an after-dinner wine, or to go with red meat, game, quails and richly-flavoured dishes. Very good with well-aged cheeses, such as parmesan, pecorino and gorgonzola.

AWARDS

Vintage 2019

Vintage 2018

Wine Spectator, Sept. 2021, USA 91/100

Vinous.com, March 2024, USA 93/100

Decanter, 2024, UK 91/100

Falstaff Wein Guide – Italien 2024, Austria 94/100

Jamessuckling.com, April 2023, USA 93/100