2011 Giuseppe Quintarelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (750ml)

91 points Wine Advocate The 2011 Valpolicella Classico Superiore saw seven months of slow and careful aging in botte grande before being deemed ready for the market. The wine takes a little coaxing before it fully opens, and it requires a few extra vigorous swirls of the glass before it begins to reveal earthy tones of baked brick and potting soil. However, the core of the wine is definitely packed tight with blackberry and ripe plum. The hot vintage has shaped a wine with extra volume and textural richness (with 15% alcohol). Tasting wines correctly at the Quintarelli family winery is not as straightforward as it could be, and my belief is that the wines suffer because of it. The process is weighed down by tradition and folklore (for example, the late Giuseppe Quintarelli reportedly didn't approve of visitors spitting his wines) that is practiced at the winery today as a way of keeping his memory and presence alive. The setup involves dim lighting, small and thick glasses, no spit buc