Monte Dall‘Ora Stropa Amarone Della Valpolicella 2011

While Amarone fans in general expect and desire wines that are rich, full-bodied, unctuous and even sweet, Monte Dall’Ora’s is a more savory, structured and subtle version. Indeed, that is the hallmark of all of their wines. Amarone is clearly a primary interest of Valpolicella winemakers and drinkers: notably, the appellation allows a full 50% of a winery’s fruit to go into Amarone, but Carlo and Alessandra use at most 15-20% of their fruit to make 'Stropa'. They harvest early in order to maintain acidity and over a period of several weeks to gather the very finest fruit. The bunches dry in single layers in small, open, wooden crates in an airy granary next to the house for around 3 months. The dried grapes are pressed and the juice fermented with ambient yeasts in open wooden vats, taking up to about 40 days to get to full dryness. Aging lasts around 3 years in used barrels before bottling and then aged again in bottle for several years before release (the 2011 was released in 2019).