A bottle of Tommasi Amarone in a wooden gift box.

Deep ruby in colour. The wine has complex aromas of ripe cherry, black fruit, wild berries and warm spices. The palate is concentrated with excellent structure and flavours of ripe black and red fruits, leather and dark chocolate. A perstisting and prefumed, velvety finish.

Founded by Giacomo Tommasi in 1902, Tommasi has grown to be the largest family-owned vineyard estate in the Valpolicella Classica, owning 105 hectares and an additional 15 hectares in the Lugana DOC. Tommasi is located in Piedemonte in the heart of the historic ‘Classico’ region, from which the best quality wines are produced. The estate is owned and managed by the fourth generation of the Tommasi family, with six family members working together in harmony. Pierangelo manages the UK market, while winemaker, Giancarlo prefers to stay close the vineyards and winery.

The grapes for the Amarone come from hillside vineyards in the Valpolicella Classico area; Conca d’Oro and La Groletta vineyards. The vineyards are situated at 290-330m with south/south west exposure. The soils are clay and loam of volcanic origin. The vines are trained using the traditional pergola system (3,500 vines/ha) and also Guyot at a density of 6,500 vines per hectare.

The very best grape bunches were carefully selected and hand-picked. The grapes were then laid out in boxes of 5-6 kg and naturally dried in the fruttaio (a large room with natural air circulation) for four months. After the ‘appasimento’ or drying process, the grapes were gently pressed the following January. A skin maceration and alcoholic fermentation took place in wooden vats at 26-28°C lasting 40 days . After fermentation, the wine was matured for 30 months in 35 hectolitre Slavonian oak barrels before bottling. The wines is aged for a further year in bottle before release.

Vintage 2019 was characterized by a warm spring with the month of March having temperatures well above average. A rainy May has made flowering fall approximately 15 days later than usual. June and July were instead very warm and dry, indeed in July we had temperatures above 35C° for 5 consecutive days, nevertheless they were well balanced by high diurnal ranges on the vineyards located on the hillsides. Once more the choice of cultivating the vines on the hillsides happened to be strategical. Over the first weeks of September, we have seen a raise of aromatic compounds in the vines and a low malic acid consumption due to the lower daily temperatures compared to the previous months. This has indeed allowed the wines to be rather elegant and delicate. The harvest has at the end started 10 days later then usual, being 10 days late.

Perfect with beef, game, lamb and blue cheeses.