Red Veneto over £10

And the winner is...

Collina dei Ciliegi, Amarone 2007

Collina dei Ciliegi is the equivalent of what in France would be a called a négotiant house.

Founded in 2005 by Massimo Gianolli, a high-flying financier with one of Italy’s leading investment and insurance groups, it produces wines with a strong Veronese focus obtained from various sources in the local area. The top of the range is the Amarone, made at the highly rated Cantina Sociale della Valpantena, to the parent company specifications.

Production director Simone Antonietti explains the company’s user-friendly take on the Veronese classic: “The aim is to make an Amarone to drink with a meal, which is accessible to an audience including people who are not necessarily familiar with Amarone. We give the grapes a long drying – a month more than the minimum required by the production norms – so we get a full bodied wine, but we insist on exclusively used barriques to maintain the fruit flavours and we set a ceiling of 14.5 of alcohol, as opposed to the 16.0 plus that is typical of Amarone”.

The first wine to come out under the Collina dei Ciliegi label was a 2005 Riserva. The award-winning 2007 is the debut vintage of the non-riserva.Very fresh on the nose, (a feature of Valpantena wines), with aromas of plum, cherry, spices and cigar box, it has tight and beautifully refined tannins on the palate and excellent length and grip.

It is highy drinkable now, as intended, but it is also capable of developing over the next 2-3 years.

Contact details:

tel: 0039/015/8484301

web : www.lacollinadeiciliegi.it

Written by Richard Baudains