Jesús Barquín: Concentrated, clean, dry, perhaps a tad closed, with notes of licorice and prunes. Fine balance of tannin, alcohol, and acidity. Long. While still young now, its evolution in bottle is promising. 15.5

Nicolas Belfrage: Very deep, opaque, youthful. Tar and wood on nose, fruit at present struggling to emerge. Chunky, robust wine, a certain roughness of tannins, okay acidity and balanced sweetness but retains its ruvido [rough-textured] style throughout. May come round in 2–3 years. 14

Andrew Jefford: Glossy, saturated, and midnight black; I didn’t realize Amarone could look this dark. The scents are rather unyielding at present: furniture polish and a very slight reduction or containment. With air, the wine opens and freshens up a bit, and the diagnostic cherries and sloes start to emerge. Intense, deep, and searching on the palate, with lots of tight-sewn black fruits; it’s fresher in style than many, and has fine tannins, too. A very good wine in early youth; decant if you drink any time soon. This, too, is an Amarone in which the amaro features agreeably—that subtle, rounded, beckoning, mouth-freshening bitterness that is fi nally almost resolved in sweetness. 16.5