Quintarelli, Alzero, IGT 2015 - 75cl
Alzero is Giuseppe Quintarelli's great heresy — a Bordeaux-variety wine made by the appassimento method of Amarone. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc lead, roughly 40% each, with Merlot filling the rest, all dried on mats for weeks after harvest before they ever see a fermenter. It carries only the humble Veneto IGT label, because Bordeaux grapes fall outside the Valpolicella rulebook, yet it is one of the most sought-after and expensive red wines Italy produces.
The late Quintarelli, godfather of Valpolicella, worked with a patience that borders on the absurd: long, wild-yeast fermentation, then around seven years in wood — first French barrique, then large Slavonian botti — before the wine is finally released. The 2015 comes from a superb Veneto vintage, ripe and deep, and drying the grapes concentrates all of it.
This is dense, mahogany-edged wine — morello cherry and cassis, fig, leather, tobacco, cocoa and graphite. It is full and mouth-filling, sweetly fruited from the raisining yet held together by fine tannin and a long, warming close. High in alcohol, around 16.5%, and utterly composed. It drinks like a great Left Bank claret that spent a summer in the sun.
A bottle for a landmark occasion, or for the cellar — it will evolve for decades.
How to Serve
Serve at 18-20°C. Decant generously, up to two hours; it keeps unfolding in the glass. A large Bordeaux glass suits its scale. Drinking now but with a very long life ahead.
Where to Drink It
Scott's in Mayfair, for an occasion that warrants it. Wiltons on Jermyn Street, all hushed ceremony. The River Cafe, if you want it in Italian hands.
Food Pairings
Aged beef — a dry-aged rib, cooked simply — meets its weight head on. Or sit it after dinner with hard mountain cheese and let it be the event.
