2012 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG 750 ml

No compromises from “Amarone’s ambassador”

In the last two decades, the popularity of the Amarone has boomed, which has proven to be a double-edged sword. Opportunistic, corner-cutting producers have profited on the wine’s reputation by luring drinkers to bottles boasting the Amarone label and not much more. But as the market crowds, a group of benchmark producers stands above, producing the kind of Amarone that first grabbed the world’s attention: Quintarelli. Bertani. And the producer that Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate calls “one of the Amarone’s most renowned ambassadors to the world.”

Viticoltori Tommasi was founded in Valpolicella Classico in 1902. Four generations later, the Tommasi family owns 234 acres in Valpolicella Classico, essential vineyards for a family that insists on using only estate grapes in their Amarone.

At every point in the painstaking process, winemaker Giancarlo Tommasi adheres to the most labor-intensive and traditional methods. The best clusters are hand-harvested only from Tommasi’s top two vineyards, then dried for three months in a fruttaio ventilated naturally by cool autumn and winter breezes. After a slow fermentation, Tommasi forsakes the quick softening effects of barriques and ages the wine for 30 months in Slavonian oak casks, then another year in bottle.

This attention is what has kept the Tommasi family at the top of the Amarone hierarchy for a century. It is why Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate calls them “most influential,” and why Tommasi is a mainstay on the wine lists at restaurants like Sparks, Il Mulino, Del Frisco, and BLT.

Antonio Galloni praises Tommasi’s “very attractive” “classic feel.” Arbiter of all things Italian James Suckling gives 93 laudatory points to the 2012, praising it as “soft, velvety,” and a “very classic style of Amarone.” This is a rare opportunity to enjoy a true classic as the field fills up with pale imitations.