Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Costasera Reserva 2011

Wine Advocate 94 points - This is a beautiful wine by the technical winemaking team at Masi. The 2011 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva Costasera opens to a midnight black appearance and thick concentration. On first nose, you really get a sense of the power and depth of this wine. The bouquet is redolent of dried blackberry and plum with spice, barbecue smoke and cured meat. The wine is textured and powerful in terms of mouthfeel with a thick coating of dark flavors that wrap thickly over the palate. Masi’s Riserva Amarone shows great results in warm vintages like this..May/2017

Wine & Spirits 91 points - Notes of tobacco and walnut skin lend savor to this Amarone’s sweeter flavors of fig, black plum and baking spice. Its angular tannins turn leathery on the finish, accentuating the wine’s earthiness and calling for a match with prime rib..February/2017

Vinous 91 points - Almost impenetrable deep ruby. Oak-dominated nose offers plenty of vanilla and sweet spice that push the ripe black cherry and prune aromas into the background. Then more vanilla in the mouth but with bright, juicy acidity and floral lift providing freshness and precision on the long rising finish. As always the Costasera Riserva, a wine dominated by its Oseleta presence (a grape variety that gives tannic, powerful wines), will need plenty of time to round out. A blend of Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara and Oseleta. (15.5% alcohol).Ian DAgata, May/2017