Flash: Romano Dal Forno sad decision, no Amarone in 2014

Romano Dal Forno

Romano Dal Forno, the iconic winegrower of Amarone and Valpolicella wines, sadly joins Bertani and others smaller producers like Terre di Pietra and Tenute Ugolini. In an announcement released here (in Italian) he gives up to produce Amarone della Valpolicella 2014:

"This unfortunate vintage poses a lot of big question marks. We must think to the final consumer: the real wine lover cannot expect a high quality Amarone, and resellers and restaurant owners might see in this vintage more problems than opportunities in which to invest. On our side, we'll try to do our best with the Valpolicella wine".

On the same topic, please see our pre-harvest report and this post about the difficult decisions facing Valpolicella producers.

India, a perspective view

Alok Chandra, for Business Standard,  an Indian online business magazine, reports some interesting facts on Amarone della Valpolicella:

Wine Spectator lists 773 Amarone wines, with the highest-scoring MICHELE CASTELLANI Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cinque Stelle being rated at 96 points, with a release price of $105; the Romano del Forno Amarone 2003 is 95 points/ $425. Notable Amarone producers with wines in the 90-plus points range include Masi, Tommaso, Tedeschi, Zenato, Allegrini, and Michele Castellani - release prices vary from $50 to $175.
 (...) In India there seems to be a singular dearth of Amarone wines: the only ones I have on record are the Masi Costasera 1990 (Brindco,Rs 8,760 in Mumbai), the Montresor 2003 (Fine Wines & More, Rs 6,400), and the Guerrieri Villa Rizzardi 2006 (FW&M, Rs 10,334).

And his final words signal there's market to exploit and opportunities in India for these wines:

Wines I've been drinking: Unfortunately not an Amarone - none are available at retail in Bangalore...

Read here the complete post.