Recioto della Valpolicella Antolini 2018

Recioto della Valpolicella Antolini, organic, red dessert wine made from dried grapes, appassimento, dark chocolate, liquorice – sweet but never cloying. A stunning sweet wine that strikes a perfect balance of sweetness with enough acidity to stop it from becoming cloying. It has intense aromas of cherries, cranberry, violet and spice, and in the mouth it’s voluptuously smooth, with intense flavours of chocolate, cherry jam and a lick of licorice. A delicious dessert wine for chocolate gateau, truffles, or gorgonzola.

Pier Paolo Antolini (call him Pierpy!) and his brother Stefano took over their family vineyard in the early 90s on the hills Marano, San Pietro in Cariano and Negrar in Valpolicella.

The 'Marogne', terraced vineyards cover some 7 hectares and are interspersed with olive and cherry trees. You find these scents immediately in the wines when you uncork a bottle! Their wines are in some ways modern being very bright and full of delicious fruity corvina aromas. However, natural farming and wild yeasts give these wines a genuine sense of identity. Although they aim for body and fullness of flavour. The brothers use very little new oak and the wines are very fresh. Both Amarones have stunning concentration and are awe inspiringly good. The Recioto is liquid gold and Antolini's Ripasso wipes the floor with many a more expensive example.