Giuseppe Quintarelli Quintarelli Giuseppe Recioto della Valpolicella Classico 2007 375ml

Time has only been a friend to the 2004 Recioto della Valpolicella Classico. Soaring and vivid in its beauty, the 2004 is simply stunning today. Bittersweet chocolate, cloves, menthol, leather and sweet dark cherry are front and center, but it is the wine’s poise and overall nuance that truly elevate it into the stratosphere of wine elixirs. Don’t make the same mistake I have made in the past. Avoid the half bottles. The 2004 is a wine to buy in the 750s. This is as good as Recioto gets. (Antonio Galloni)

This wine is dedicated to Roberto Ferrarini, the longtime consulting enologist who worked with Giuseppe Quintarelli and the Quintarelli family until his death in 2014. The beautiful 2007 Recioto della Valpolicella Classico A Roberto (packaged in a 375-millliter bottle) is a stunning and magical creation. The last vintage this estate made a Recioto was in 2004, and at the time of this tasting, there was no future vintage earmarked to follow this bottling. Those of you lucky enough to taste this bottle will be rewarded with carefully crafted aromas of plum and raisin with sweet baking spice, moist earth, campfire ash, fresh espresso and a touch of bitter chocolate. This wine was bottled in 2017 and therefore saw ten years of aging in a normal-sized barrique. The wine shows utter silkiness in terms of texture and is surprising light on its feet despite its 15.5% alcohol. This is a precious collectors’ bottle.

The 2007 Recioto della Valpolicella Classico A Roberto coats the glass with glycerol-like richness while displaying dusty dried flowers, incense, cloves, pine resin, quince and a lifting hint of camphor. It’s silky in texture yet enlivened by bright acidity, as ripe red fruits give way to hints of grilled orange, exotic brown spices and cocoa. While this is certainly sweet, clocking in at 65 grams per liter of residual sugar, it’s also wonderfully balanced and vibrant from start to finish, tapering off remarkably fresh and perfumed with a bitter twang of coffee and dark chocolate. The 2007 is a thrill-ride rendition of Quintarelli Recioto, which may not last through long-term cellaring, but it will wow collectors over the next 10 to 15 years. The Recioto A Roberto is the only wine in the portfolio that undergoes spontaneous fermentation, and it is also matured completely in small oak barrels. As this was the favorite wine and passion project of Roberto Ferrarini, Giuseppe Quintarelli’s enologist who passed in 2014, the family decided to dedicate the 2007 in his honor.