Pieropan, Amarone della Valpolicella (Veneto, Italy) 2010

Pieropan is justly famous for making consistently outstanding Soave–the standard bottling from 2013 is superb as usual, and the 2012 Calvarino and La Rocca renditions are terrific.  I’ve loved the wines for years, but have never managed to taste Pieropan’s Amarone until trying this 2010.  It is deadly delicious, showing impressive richness and unfathomably deep flavors, and yet there’s nothing remotely pruny or overtly sweet or over-blown about the wine.  On the contrary, despite being made from dried grapes, it shows gorgeous fruit notes on both the nose and palate, with an amazing freshness for a wine of this type.  Perhaps the relatively high-acid profile of the 2010 vintage played a part in that, though many Amarone producers down-play the role of vintage variation in this category–making the peerless craftsmanship of the Pieropan family the more promising hypothesis.  This would be fabulous with a spicy braised lamb dish, though it is important to emphasize that the wine is so beautifully balanced that it could be used like any other rich table wine, whereas many other bottlings of Amarone are much more confining.