Cantina Valpantena Torre del Falasco Amarone della Valpolicella 2018

Cantina Valpantena Torre del Falasco Amarone della Valpolicella is deep ruby in colour, this wine has aromas of ripe plums, spice and cocoa, which give way to a solid tannin structure that supports the concentrated, dried-cherry fruit character. It is long and silky on the finish, with a bitter cherry-chocolate twist characteristic of good Amarone. Run by Luca Degani, the Cantina Valpantena is now one of Italy’s best co-operatives, with 700 hectares of vineyard that produce excellent quality fruit. Matt Thomson makes some of the Alpha Zeta wines here and has worked closely with them since the 90s. Known as the ‘valley of god’ to the ancient Greeks, the Valpantena is well known for its quality red wines, due partly to the limestone soils, but also because of the cool breeze that blows down the valley from the foothills of the Dolomites. The Torre del Falasco wines are the standard bearers of this co-operative. Their Valpolicella illustrates why the Valpantena Valley has always been regarded as at least as good as the Classico zone.