Cabernet “Alzero” Verona IGT 2013 by Quintarelli
Quintarelli’s version of a Right Bank Bordeaux blend, and something of a response to the Napa and Super Tuscan-style Girondalikes. Those latter regions have tended towards more Left Bank styles, based on a predominance of cabernet sauvignon at greater levels of ripeness and extraction than is generally possible in Atlantic France. Quintarelli, by contrast, have as much cabernet franc in the blend as sauvignon as well as a healthy slug of merlot, making the wine softer and more perfumed. The twist, however, is to combine this with the Veronese natural power and weight, making the Alzero one of the most extraordinary wines in the region – indeed in all of Italy.
Assemblage: cabernet sauvignon 40%, cabernet franc 40%, merlot 20%.
Winemaking: grapes are selected with Quintarelli’s customary care and attention from their Negrar-based vineyards at relatively high altitudes (350m above sea level). Following fermentation the wine spends a total of 60 months (five years) in French oak.
Alcohol: 16,5%
Colour: intense ruby-red.
Aroma: wonderful red and black fruit of extraordinary intensity and depth, along with beguiling hints of nuts, violets, mint and a whiff of green paper.
Palate: full, supple, elegant and long-lived, an exceptionally giving and rewarding wine.
Ageability: as with most of Quintarelli’s offerings, a decade counts as just getting started. Decades left easily.
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