98 points Vinous

The 2008 Amarone della Valpolicella is compelling. With a little air, the tannins begin to soften, releasing a myriad of intense dark aromas and flavors. Bittersweet chocolate, cloves, violets, plums and blackberry jam cover every inch of the palate in a stunning, headspinning Amarone that captures all of the best qualities of the year. When Romano Dal Forno’s wines are on, there is nothing quite like them, and that is certainly the case here. If opened young, the 2008 needs a little air. Actually, a lot of air.

97-98 points Heiner Lobenberg

You really have to try it to believe it.” How often do you read this sentence? Comfort yourself. You want to write it much more often than you are allowed to. And once you’ve used it again, your guilty conscience immediately catches up with you. Nevertheless: ‘You really have to have tried it to believe it’. Rarely has this forbidden sentence been truer than in the case of this product of Italian grandstanding. How could anyone have come up with the idea of drying red grapes so that they lose 50% of their liquid in order to make dry wine from them. It is hard to imagine how much care and meticulousness is involved in this passion – there is no other way to describe the work of Romano Dal Forno . Romano Dal Forno is the most meticulous living Winery. His cellar is kept almost manically clean. The product, in this case the Amarone, is not of this world. This wine is on a completely different level to what is understood by red wine or even Amarone. The precision is like a blueprint. The wine reveals itself anew with every sip. Everything is constantly in motion, everything changes. But the wine always remains itself. Full of irrepressible fruit and power, incredibly fresh in its great acidity, racy fruit, but all wrapped in this incredibly soft and fat tannin. Caution! Plenty of goose bumps and wet eyes to boot!