Jesús Barquín: Dark, almost black. Serious and intense on both nose and palate: licorice, ripe black fruit, nuts, a little VA. The tannins are still tough, but the wine shows excellent promise. 17

Nicolas Belfrage: Deep, opaque, youthful. Fairly intense cherry-liqueur on nose. Fairly classic Amarone, with firm acid, muscular tannins, a touch of sweetness on early finish, withatouch of bitterness following. Good length. 16.5

Andrew Jefford: Saturated dark black-red in color. Spicy black fruits but only modestly forthcoming. On the palate, by contrast, this is a densely constituted, complex, and satisfying wine, with ample tannic force and layers of faintly bitter-edged red and black fruit. A very good Amarone, and those tannins make it food-friendly, too. 16