Masi Costasera Amarone Classico Riserva 2016

Proud, majestic, complex and exuberant: this is a special cru version of Masi’s gentle giant, Costasera. A benchmark for the Amarone category, which, together with Barolo and Brunello, makes up the aristocracy of the Italian wine world. 
Here Masi’s unrivalled expertise in the Appassimento technique is used to give the grapes a long period of further ripening on bamboo racks and an ageing period for the wine of at least three years in casks made from the finest wood types. The expert use of indigenous grapes for the Valpolicella Classica area – Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara – is enriched by the addition of the unique Oseleta, a grape variety rediscovered by Masi.

A special cuvée of Masi’s flagship Costasera Amarone, the Riserva comes from the hillside vineyards that face the “sera”, or sunset, and thus benefit from the extra reflected light and mild climate of Lake Garda. There is both loose red soil over Eocene limestone and tightly packed red soil over basalt.

The best clusters of grapes were picked and laid out on bamboo racks in special lofts. By mid-February the grapes weighed forty percent less and had acquired great concentration; they were gently pressed after partial destemming and fermented for forty-five days in a mixture of large Slavonian oak barrels and stainless steel vats. Fermentation continued in 30-40 hectolitre barrels for thirty-five days. The wine was aged for up to forty months in 600-litre Slavonian and Allier oak casks, with a third new oak.

A sweet, perfumed nose of blackberries, candied dark cherries, sweet coffee, flowers, dates and dark chocolate. It’s full-bodied with fine-grained tannins. Full and structured, yet it’s contained and balanced. The bright and firm mid-palate contrasts with the racy, bittersweet finish. The sweet, coffee-candy note is still prominent now. Better wait for two years before approaching. Try in 2024.

The Masi 2016 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva Costasera (with 50,000 bottles made) pours forth with dark concentration and robust fruit weight. You get a strong delivery of dried plum, blackcurrant, baking spice, leather, redwood and sticky chewing tobacco. You need to be mentally prepared to take on all this vinous volume and power, and a cut of charcoal grilled tri-tip to accompany this bottle sure would help.