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1997 Alegrini Amarone - Printable Version

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- Glass_A_Day - 01-18-2003

I see why Parker and Spectator both gave this one a 95. A very complex style. Super elegant. Not big and bossy, just smooth. At first I thought I was going to be dissapointed, but after a bit of sipping and few bites of dinner....wow. An absolute blockbuster. Not a cheap drink at $69.99, but for a special ocasion, it was well worth it.

[This message has been edited by Glass_A_Day (edited 01-18-2003).]


- Botafogo - 01-18-2003

It is indeed excellent as a red wine BUT it is not in any way a typical Amarone (through a combination of metodo di Grazia and some even suspect it has some syrah in it) and I wish that Franco would give it some Vino da Tavola name and stop confusing people about what the standards for Amarone are. He coud follow the lead of Gaja who no longer bother to call his wines Barbaresco (because they are not) and just names them after the vineyards.

His sister, Marilisa, has been quoted in Decanter as asking "If our wines are poured next to great Bordeaux like Haut Brion or Mouton and they taste different then how will we look?" !!!!!!!

The end is indeed nigh, Robertinho no Rio


- Thomas - 01-18-2003

"His sister, Marilisa, has been quoted in Decanter as asking "If our wines are poured next to great Bordeaux like Haut Brion or Mouton and they taste different then how will we look?"

Huh?

Re, the Amarone: I wondered about that "smooth" description.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 01-18-2003).]


- Botafogo - 01-18-2003

Her implication was that that is the only style of wine that can be considered "great" so hers must emulate theirs which then leads you to ask, "before or after the Parkerization of Bordeuax?".

Roberto


- Thomas - 01-18-2003

Based on the Parkerization of Gaja wines (and others up there), you have your answer...


- stevebody - 01-26-2003

I met Marilisa at a recent Winebow tasting here in Seattle at the Edgewater Hotel and had an opportunity to talk with her at some length. She's as flambouyant as you might expect, both in dress and manner, but a down to earth sort of person whom I would be very surprised to find actually making a numbskull remark like the one attributed to her. She's perfectly well aware of Allegrini's place in the wine universe and part of our conversation dealt with exactly that difference between the Italians and French. (She wasn't at all shy about knocking some deserving French haut-houses around, either)

BTW, what is all this weary crap about wines being "typical"? Jeez, I thought we were past all that lunacy, here in 2K-Ought3. And who sets these arbitrary standards about what constitutes a typical Amarone, anyway? Certain well-travelled descriptors can, naturally, be used to describe the mass of past Amarones, just like some can be used to describe Paulliacs and Margaux. But they serve mostly to give wine pedants a handle to whack wines they don't personally like. The Italians in particular have struggled mightily for the past 30 year or so to break the stifling grip their own government has held on adventurous winemaking and people like the Allegrinis, Roberto Guldener, Ricardo Cotarella, AND Angelo Gaja have finally managed to make the wines they want to make by the simple expedient of telling the Itailan wine commissioners to go f__k themselves. Allegrini makes a great Amarone. Period. It's called evolution, folks. We're still primates, even if we're no longer "typical" monkies.


- scimmiatinit - 01-26-2003

Allegrini makes a great wine. WINE that's the right word!

I agree.

I do not agree about ...all this weary crap about wines being "typical".

If I go to buy an Amarone I want a typical one...I mean that's what people/consumers should expect...

arbitrary standards... HISTORY !

give wine pedants a handle to whack wines they don't personally like... SOMETIMES THIS CAN BE TRUE BUT PLEASE DO NOT MAKE OF THIS THE RULE!

Every producer can give a personal interpretation of a style of wine but there must be limits to respect in using a DOC.

That's why Super tuscan, super venetians, super piedmonts or other super whatever exist.


- Glass_A_Day - 01-26-2003

Wow, guys. Politics are running rampant here. I wrote the tasting note because I drank some good wine that happened to be rated very high and I happened to agree with the rating. Everything else is just scenery.


- winoweenie - 01-26-2003

GAD-i-poo don' let the nervous ramblings pre-Super-Bowl git' to thee. Our crowd doesn't know how to let any stone grow moss, roll untended, or sit still without being thrown. They become more centralized, civilized, and controlled when their minds are occupied by the tube.ww


- Botafogo - 01-26-2003

>>>BTW, what is all this weary crap about wines being "typical"? Jeez, I thought we were past all that lunacy, here in 2K-Ought3.<<

No, we are not. If, instead of telling the government and the consorzium and the consumer to F--- off, they would just label the wine as a vino da tavola with some nome de fantasia (and then they could probably charge more) that would be fine. But making a wine like that AND wanting to label it as Amarone is wanting your cake and eating it too.

>> And who sets these arbitrary standards about what constitutes a typical Amarone, anyway?<<<

They are hardly "arbitrarary" and are set by the consorzium of producers to which Allegirni belong and could opt out if they choose.

I have known Marilisa for ten years, have been a frequent guest in her home and have discussed all of this at length with her.

As to Ricardo Cotarella, he should be deported to Australia where he can fullfill his destiny instead destroying the character of a huge number of zonas.

Luddite to the bone, Roberto


- Glass_A_Day - 01-26-2003

Yeah...what WW said. LOL. Anyway...1997 Allegrini Amarone...good stuff. Try it, like it, buy it. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]


- stevebody - 01-26-2003

Botafogo,

Gotta love a man with strong opinions, even if you don't agree with them!

I seem to have a problem with clarity on this site which rarely plagues me in person. "Typical" seems to me to be a strait-jacket for any wine type. I've spent a hell of a chunk of change indulging my Amarone Jones and the wines are as individual as snowflakes in my memory. The lovely Bolla '90 I had for New Year's Eve was nothing at all like the Masi Campolongo di Torbe '77 I had last May or the Bussola '95 or the Tommasi '88 or the.... All completely different. Roses on one nose, tar on the next, crushed blackberries on the third. So, what is typical? I'm sure the Italians have their preconceptions and traditions, which I respect fully without feeling any need to abide by them. As I tell my customers constantly, you don't need to feel bad because you like this wine or don't get that one just because they're supposed to be great. I freely admit I don't get what the fuss is about Bordeaux, since the earth-shattering wines that made its reputation are wines that are so scarce and so expensive that most of us will NEVER know them except as elegies in the Advocate or the Spectator. We're Americans. What the Italians drink is fine with me but we don't and SHOULDN'T drink, judge, or buy based on their view of their wines. Once it comes past our shores, it's for us to decide if we think it's great - or "typical" - in relation to the pool of wines of that type available to us. I'm sure stuff like the Domenico Clerico Arte and Cotarella's La Carraia Fobbiano horrify Italians. Great, more for us.

I think Cotarella's principal crime is Vitiano. He makes some snappy juice. I'm sure the Aussie's would welcome him with open arms.

And, BTW, LOVE the word "Luddite". I've been accused of that one a few times myself!


- Innkeeper - 01-26-2003

There must be something in Italian Wine that gets everybody's dander up or is it blood boiling.


- Drew - 01-26-2003

Bucko used to drink Italian wines until he started to beat his patients.

Drew