The 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta is deep and rich in the glass, slowly opening with autumnal spices, crushed violets, cocoa and custard. While dark and inward on the nose, it's wonderfully open and finessed on the palate, with a pure mix of red berries and savory spices under an air of rosy inner florals. Through it all, tension builds as tannins saturate, leaving the palate drenched in primary concentration. The 2015 is incredibly long and in need of many years in the cellar to fully evolve. The balance of ripeness, structure and acid here creates a totally harmonious and classic expression. Do not pass up on this sleeping giant of an Amarone. In 2015, production was down by 45% due to hail, and the final wine finished at only one gram of residual sugar per liter.

The ultimate statement wine from northern Italy is the 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta. The Dal Forno family skipped over the 2014 vintage, and this sunny vintage is worth the wait. Monte Lodoletta is always incredibly high in terms of fruit weight and tannins, but this edition from 2015 appears more integrated in terms of concentration and softer in terms of structure; it's not that the wine is more accessible. It will hold the line for years and decades to come and promises to age gracefully. This vintage is instead more fleshed out and open-knit. The bouquet peels back with thick layers of black fruit, spice, campfire embers and toasted coffee bean. It's an expensive bottle for collectors, but you get lots of bang for your buck.

A rich red, with good tension and energy, displaying tightly meshed flavors of blackberry preserves, fig cake, espresso crema and singed sage coiled around a core of dense but fine tannins. Tea leaf, smoky earth and mineral notes chime on the long and chewy finish. Corvina, Rondinella, Oseleta and Croatina. Best from 2025 through 2045. 1,350 cases made, 250 cases imported.