The Le Salette 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico La Marega is a hot-vintage expression with thick density and a very full-bodied approach. The bouquet produces cooked fruit aromas, but perhaps the toasted oak and exotic spice is what you might notice first. The wine shows a lot of sweetness from both the fruit and the oak, with a thick, soft texture that wraps over the entirety of the palate. Like many other wines from this vintage, the alcohol is high at 15.5%.

The Le Salette 2016 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico La Marega is a careful wine that shows plenty of important inner elegance and measured intensity, but it also showcases the distinctive power that comes with the appassimento process for wines made with air-dried fruit. The bouquet reveals layers of dried plum and blackcurrant, and there are plenty of savory tones, including spice, leather and smoke. La Marega will be most remembered for the studied balance it achieves throughout.

Rich hints of date, herb and balsamic accent the sun-dried cherry, violet and spiced orange flavors in this medium-bodied red. Bright and lightly mouthwatering, with a creamy finish. Drink now through 2023. 1,666 cases made, 100 cases imported.??–AN??Region: Italy / Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Select to Add

Here is another beautiful wine from Franco Scamperle and the talented team at Le Salette. The 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico La Marega is 70% Corvina and Corvinone with 30% Dindarella, Rondinella and Oseleta that sees five months of appassimento. You'll find slightly less residual sugar (with slightly less alcohol at 15.5%), which gives this wine more austerity and aromas that veer toward dark fruit, pressed blackberry, savory spice, mesquite and barbecue smoke. Try to find a ring of Bossolà or another sweet bread to serve here sliced along with Taleggio or Piave cheeses. Some 20,000 bottles were made.

Aromatic, with hints of pink peppercorn, orange peel and dried rosemary, this firm, savory version is framed by light, taut tannins, offering flavors of crushed currant, blackberry and game. Smoke-tinged finish. Best from 2019 through 2024. 1,666 cases made, 100 cases imported.??–AN??Region: Italy / Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Select to Add