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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
This red wine is made using an ancient winemaking technique called “ripasso”. This consists in introducing a part of Valpolicella, produced the preceding autumn, onto Amarone wine marc after these have been decanted in March. The grapes used to produce this wine come from vineyards located on the Moraine Hills in the Valpolicella area.
Strong ruby red. Clear and transparent. Ample and complex. Notes of cherry, raspberry and red currant give freshness to the wine. The wine is fruity, well-balanced and well-structured. Alcohol and acidity are in good armony. The wine is warm and round. The after taste confirms the character of the bouquet. This wine has a long-lasting and persistent flavor.
Vuosikerta 1996
Italy Vintage Report by Tb: 1996 was an excellent continuation of the preceding year. Temperatures exceeding 30°C at the beginning of June accelerated and balanced the start of the blooming period. The summer growing season enjoyed ideal conditions, in which the grapes were allowed to ripen slowly and evenly. The autumn rains did not present any mould problems due to the cool temperatures. Nebbiolo grapes were thick-skinned, very concentrated and ripe. The 1996 Barolos and Barbarescos are abundantly fruity, supple and robust wines, whose quality is on a par with the 1990 vintage. In Tuscany Chianti and Montalcino enjoyed extraordinary success. Montepulciano did not do quite as well, but producers in Tuscany considered 1996 to be nearly every bit as good as it was in 1995. Starting with this vintage Angelo Gaja classified his legendary single-vineyard Barbarescos and Barolos as IGTs. Gaja said that the reason for doing this was his desire to differentiate his previous modern single-vintage wines from his family’s pride, the traditional Barbaresco, whose importance he wanted to emphasise as his only DOCG wine. The venerable Chianti producer, Castello di Ama decided that from 1996 on it would focus on the production of Chianti Classico, placing less emphasis on its single-vineyard wines, the Bellavista and La Casuccia.
The wines are still maturing very nicely, even if the Chiantis should, in my opinion, be enjoyed soon due to their sheer deliciousness.