2019 Begali - Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Monte Ca Bianca (750ml)

Begali is one of the most respected names in the Valpolicella Classico, and Monte Ca' Bianca is their crown jewel — a single-vineyard Amarone named for the estate at the heart of their holdings in San Pietro in Cariano, in the province of Verona.

The blend is 40% Corvina, 35% Corvinone, 20% Rondinella, and 5% Oseleta. After careful harvest in September, the grapes are dried in temperature-controlled fruit rooms until January or February — the ancient appassimento process — before pressing and vinification. The wine then ages for approximately four years in both barriques and large 20-hectoliter oak barrels, followed by at least eight months of bottle rest before release. 

The 2019 opens with a bright ruby color and garnet rims. The nose is fruity and expressive — raspberries, ripe dark cherries with a hint of rum pot. On the palate it is velvety, soft, and powerful, with fine, well-integrated tannins and very ripe fruit flavors that close with a slightly salty, lingering finish.  Falstaff awarded the 2019 vintage 95 points.

Begali leans heavily on Corvinone — their hillside vineyards are particularly well-suited to the variety, and it brings a finesse and structural backbone that sets Monte Ca' Bianca apart from more opulent, extracted expressions of Amarone.  This is a wine built for the cellar but already showing beautifully.