This is a perfect winter wine with bone warming heat and a touch of sweetness. The nose is incredibly generous, revealing intriguing aromas of leather, espresso, chocolate, cigar box, vanilla, pruned fruit, fig, exotic spices and damp forest floor. This is a full bodied Amarone with a velvety mouth feel and smooth tannins. The lingering finish seems endless but maybe a tad hot thanks to the 16.5% alcohol. A perfect pairing to a long winters day outside and a slow cooked pot roast. Decanted 6 hours.

The nose opens up with pungent medicinal mint, sappy, sugar-laden black cherries, licorice, green pepper, 5-spice and mushroom. Lively and sappy, this wine boasts a glycerol-rich, mouth-coating and velvety palate of spicy, minty, and candied black cherries; lively acidity and absolutely no shortage of fire in the back end. A bit overblown at 16.5 alc, and still with sweetness at that, but a decadent mouthful all the same. Not a chocolate monster, it's as vegetal as it is candied - interesting and delicious.