2009 Dal Forno Romano Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta
How does this wine taste?
How full and heavy the wine feels in your mouth, like the difference between skimmed milk and cream. More alcohol, sugar and oak ageing make a wine fuller.
The drying, grippy feel on your gums and tongue, as with strong tea. It comes from the skins and seeds of black grapes and from oak, and softens with age.
How much sugar you taste, from dry to sweet. Fruity is not the same as sweet: a dry wine can taste of ripe fruit.
How fresh and juicy the wine is: acidity makes your mouth water. High acidity tastes lively and refreshing, low acidity soft and round.
What we taste What you taste Click a taste for what it means
The bars follow how sommeliers taste (WSET): body, tannin, sweetness and acidity, each from low to high.
Body: powerful. Fuller than most red wines from ; 15% alcohol.
Tannin: tannic. From ; aged in oak.
Sweetness: dry. Red wine from is almost always dry.
Acidity: medium. from the temperate climate of .
Aromas: dark fruit and green notes, typical of
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Log inDal Forno Romano is one of the most iconic producers in Valpolicella. Romano Dal Forno built the estate with an uncompromising vision of quality and concentration. The focus is now increasingly on his son Marco, who continues the same style. The house is known for low yields, extreme selection, and long oak aging. The wines are powerful, intense, and beloved by collectors worldwide. The approach is aimed at maximum extraction and precision. You can find more information in the Winery tab.
Origin and terroir
This Valpolicella Superiore comes from the Monte Lodoletta vineyard, located in the hills of the Valpolicella region in Veneto. The soils consist of calcareous clay and volcanic material, which provides structure and depth. The climate is warm and sunny, but with sufficient coolness at night. This helps to keep ripeness and freshness in balance. The location and soil contribute to the powerful style of the wine.
Grapes and vineyard management
The blend consists of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Croatina, and Oseleta. These grapes are grown with very low yields and are strictly selected. Dal Forno works with high planting density and intensive vineyard management to achieve maximum concentration. After the harvest, the grapes are partially dried using the appassimento method, which ensures extra richness and structure.
Vinification and aging
After harvesting and partial drying, the grapes are fermented with a focus on extraction and concentration. The wine then ages for no less than 36 months in a combination of French and American oak. During this period, sur lie aging also takes place, contributing to texture and complexity. The long wood aging gives the wine structure, spiciness, and an impressive length.
Color, smell and taste
Deep dark in color, almost opaque. The aroma is intense and powerful, with black fruit, baked plums, spices, and roasted notes. Spicy accents such as cumin and earthy nuances are also clearly present. On the palate, it is full and concentrated, with firm tannins and a certain sweetness that rounds out the wine. The finish is long, powerful, and complex.
Volume
The 2019 vintage in Valpolicella produced wines with ripe fruit and strong structure. This Monte Lodoletta clearly demonstrates this, with great concentration and depth. The wine is still young and will continue to develop towards 2027 and beyond. Its aging potential extends to approximately 2048.
Wine & Food Pairing and Discount
If available, you will find the official factsheet and additional information about this fine wine in the 'Attachments' tab. We will automatically send these to you upon ordering this wine. The wine is stored in our climate-controlled Wine Warehouse, and if you come to collect the wine, you will often receive a nice discount. You will see your discount immediately when you select 'Pick up' on the checkout page. We are located in Dordrecht, situated almost next to the A16 with ample parking. Click here for our address.
You can read full wine reviews from Parker, Suckling, Vinous, and Wine Spectator, among others. Need advice on finding the ideal wine for your dish? Click here for our exclusive Sommelier. Free for Grandcruwijnen customers. In the Food tab, you will find advice on what to look for for the right food and wine pairing, and a number of dish suggestions from our Sommelier.
Character
The wine
- 100%
Origin
Bottle
Wine features
Parker
The Wine Advocate
RP 99
Reviewed by:
Monica Larner
Release Price:
NA
Drink Date:
2019 - 2045
The Dal Forno family considered the idea of releasing their Amarone ten years after the harvest. If that plan had been implemented, this would be the vintage on the market now. The 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta is a full and generous expression that delivers thick lines and robust flavors of dried blackberry, camphor ash, exotic cedar wood, licorice and tarry road pavement. This vintage saw average temperatures throughout the growing season with a few hailstorms along the way. Very dry weather led to some mild drought in July and August, with ensuing ripening and concentration of the clusters. I found this monumental wine to be irresistible when I first tasted it five years ago, and I consider it to have improved since then. This is one of the most complete and comprehensive vintages produced at Dal Forno, and it gives us an ample 360-degree view onto the might, brawn and potential of this icon wine from the Veneto. Its evolutionary track shows no sign of slowing down.
Published: Sep 19, 2019
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James Suckling
Score
98
Avg Price (ex-tax)
$ 388
Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella 2009
Sunday, Apr 26, 2015
Color
Country
Italy
Region
Veneto
Vintage
2009
Download Shelftalker
This is powerful and very rich with blueberries, flowers and hints of spices. Full body with velvety tannins and ripe fruits. Very beautiful and generous but not overdone. Superb.
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Vinous
95
Drinking Window
2016 - 202
From: Italy: Odds & Ends (Jul 2015)
The 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella is one of the most sexy, open-knit young Dal Forno Amarones I can remember tasting. An enticing mélange of mocha, black cherry, bittersweet chocolate and leather captivates the senses. Incredibly open today, the 2009 can be enjoyed with minimal cellaring or aged for twenty years, perhaps beyond. Although the 2009 doesn't quite reach the heights of the truly epic vintages here, it comes very close and will provide considerable pleasure sooner than many of those wines. I don't think I have ever tasted a young Dal Forno Amarone with this much allure.
- By Antonio Galloni, July 2015
Amarone fans will find plenty to like in these new releases from Romano Dal Forno. The 2009s have more early appeal than is the norm here, which I imagine will only delight Dal Forno fans. As a reminder, the Valpolicella is made from 100% dried fruit, which makes it more of a second wine of the flagship Amarone than a true Valpolicella. Sadly, there is no Recioto once again this year. Although Dal Forno doesn't say it explicitly, it is quite clear that anemic market demand for sweet wines has played a role in the estate's decision to essentially abandon the production of Recioto. If one of the leading producers in Valpolicella has a hard time selling through a vintage of Recioto one can only wonder - is it Arrivederci Recioto?
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Amarone, the full-bodied, rich red wine from the Valpolicella wine region in the Veneto region (northern Italy), has not been known in the wine world for very long. This great wine has only been made since the early 20th century. Amarone originates from another great wine from the Valpolicella region, the Recioto. This wine has an ancient history. As early as the fifth century, Cassiodorus, a Roman statesman and writer, wrote in a letter to his king Theodoric the Great, advising: “… When you are in Verona, taste this intense and fleshy wine… with a regal color and incredible sweetness” .
It was not until the 1950s that the first label with the name Amarone appeared on a bottle of wine. The Bolla, Bertani and Santa Sofia wineries were the first to commercialize Amarone wines. To this day they make beautiful Amarones. Quintarelli, Romano Dal Forno and Allegrini are seen as the absolute top in the Amarone world. It will not surprise you that at Grandcruwijnen we have these three houses.
The Dal Forno Romano winery is located in Val d'Illasi, where the Dal Forno family has owned premium vineyards for 4 generations. Romano started making wine in 1983. His sons Marco, Luca and Michele are actively involved in the company, distinguished by producing a drier wine style from more ripe grapes, which are dried with the help of fans. A quality rarely seen. They receive a lot of appreciation both nationally and internationally. Romano knows not only every grape vine in his vineyard, but even every bunch. At the Fattoria, all bunches of grapes are checked one by one (!) And from this only the best grapes are selected for the wine.

Deze 2009 Dal Forno Romano Amarone presenteert geconcentreerd rijp donker fruit zoals gedroogde braam en zwarte kers, aangevuld met tonen van mokka, pure chocolade, cederhout, kamfer en een lichte teerachtige ondertoon, ondersteund door volle body en fluweelachtige tannines. Door die diepe concentratie en stevige tannines vullen de wijn de rijke umami en vetten van langzaam gegaard rundvlees, wild en stoofschotels prachtig aan en snijden de cacao- en kruidtonen mooi door de smaak van oude harde kazen. Bereidingen met langzame braising of confit, langzaam gegaard sukadelappen in rode wijn, of gegrild hert met een donkere bessensaus versterken de samensmelting van fruit, specerij en structuur en laten de wijn op zijn best tot zijn recht komen.
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