BUGLIONI AMARONE RES TESTE DURE 2010

Gravelly, clay-rich soils in the Valpolicella Classico hills — bordered by the Monti Lessini foothills, around 150 meters elevation — push Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Oseleta, and Croatina toward the concentration that makes a Riserva possible. Grapes are hand-harvested and dried through January before fermentation, then Buglioni ages this wine in terracotta amphorae, whose thermal stability and flavor neutrality preserve the grape's character rather than masking it, followed by 30 months in tonneaux. Only 3,570 numbered bottles were made. The nose opens on dried black cherry, ripe plum, leather, and cocoa; the palate delivers licorice, black pepper, and tobacco framed by fine-grained tannins.