The 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is a richly-layered wine with opulent tones of plum cake, cinnamon snap, jammy fruit and dark raisin. There’s a tight and focused nature to this wine that underlines its fine quality and aging potential. The extraction is there, and so are the tannins and acidic components. Spicy tobacco and leather last long in the mouth. The wine is aged 36 months in large oak casks. Drink 2015-2025. - Monica Larner

This opulent Amarone offers an alluring fragrance of dark fruit, raisin and toasted notes. The lush palate delivers black cherry, vanilla, black pepper and nutmeg flavors, with a hint of oak and tobacco. This is incredibly smooth, with velvety tannins.

Subdued notes of dried black cherry, prune, dark chocolate and grilled herb are underscored by smoky sous-bois details in this tightly knit, balanced red. The sinewy tannins lend some muscle. Should benefit from short-term cellaring. Best from 2017 through 2027. – AN

This wine’s somber black fruit and hard-edged, mouthcoating tannins focus the flavors on earth-bound notes of mushrooms and bitter roots. The intensity of that bitterness is like an Italian digestive, balanced by a honeyed note. Ambitiously concentrated, this needs age to mellow.