WTN:1995 Valpolicella Superiore, Dal Forno Romano

1995 Valpolicella Superiore, Dal Forno Romano
I bought a half-case (6 btls) of this wine at an auction here in Sweden for about EUR 70/USD100 per bottle. Actually the auction catalog was unclear, so I thought I had bought the 2000 of the same wine, but when I opened the case, the vintage turned out to be 1995. I was a bit worried that the wine might have gone over the hill, so I opened a bottle to tonight's bisteccha and was I to be surprised!

The colour was in fact more towards the purple than the orange I would have expected, at least at the rim.
The nose was very deep with incredibly fresh and clean ripe cherry fruit, almost a bit minty. The only hint of the age of the wine is the ripeness of the cherries.
On the palate there is again the deep fruit and a fine acidity that carries the taste along to meet the fine grained, well structured tannins, that gives the wine good structure and saves it from being merely fruity. It ends clean, fresh and very stylish. It may sound as if this was a totally fruit driven wine, but it also has a fine depth and is immensely pleasant. Given this wine blind, there is no way I would have guessed the vintage anywhere right, probably I would have been 10 years wrong. And I was worried it could be too old...

After some time some smoky aromas emerged, probably from the rather prolonged oak treatment. However, the oak aromas were so nicely integrated that I doubt even Otto would have found them at all disturbing.

I must say that I couldn't be happier that I bought this wine and, although it cost a bit, it could be considered cheap with Dal Forno's standards. And the good thing is that I still have several bottles left for future pleasure.

Cheers,
Anders

PS. 14.5% abv. You will get a picture of the label tomorrow.

As promised, here is the label:

1995 Valpolicella Dal Forno.jpg

Cheers, Anders

Anders, good news, since I have a sole bottle of the 1996 remaining and was wondering how it might age. Sadly, the price on these are near double what you paid now ($150 and up). I remember this being one of the best Italian wines I've ever had.

Sadly, the price on these are near double what you paid now ($150 and up).

Mark, is that price referring to the current price for the 1996 or the price for the current vintage, which should be 2004. If you were thinking of the 2004, it seems a bit expensive to me, or are you in fact referring to his Amarone?

Cheers,
Anders

Sadly, the price on these are near double what you paid now ($150 and up).

Mark, is that price referring to the current price for the 1996 or the price for the current vintage, which should be 2004. If you were thinking of the 2004, it seems a bit expensive to me, or are you in fact referring to his Amarone?

Cheers,
Anders

Anders, depending where one sources, but this is the Valpolicella in the current release, although I have seen them occaisionally for less (under $100). His Amarone would be even more, though less than Quintarelli. Still, wines that are above my current station

The 2004 Valpo is around $100 here in Sweden and the ones I bought at the auction were slightly cheaper.

Still, wines that are above my current station

Let me know if you happen to come here, maybe there is a bottle left that we could open. If not, I'm sure we could find something else to share.
Cheers, Anders