Buglioni, Il Lussurioso, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, Italy 2017, MAGNUM, 1500ml

“Medium-bodied and chewy, this bright, savory red offers a zesty thread of ground black pepper winding through flavors of dried cherry, cured tobacco and Mandarin orange peel. Balanced and accessible. Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Croatina and Oseleta. Drink now through 2024.”-90WS

Today, Buglioni own 36 hectares (89 acres) of vines planted to the traditional indigenous varieties of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Molinara, Oseleta, Croatina and Garganega. The 14 hectares (34.6 acres) of vineyards planted near the winery are trained using the double pergola system, while the remaining vineyards in Sant’Ambrogio and San Pietro in Cariano are trained using the guyot system. The lightly textured, gravelly, dark alluvial soil, meticulous vine pruning, and scrupulous control techniques Buglioni employs ensure the production of high-quality grapes.

All grapes for the Amarone are hand-harvested late September into early October and only 40 percent of the harvested grapes are used to produce Buglioni’s wines. A portion of the grapes are carefully selected and left to dry until late January in a winery in San Pietro in Cariano; these grapes are used to produce the most full-bodied and intense wines in the Buglioni portfolio — L’Amarone, Il Bugiardo and Il Recioto. The remaining grapes are brought immediately to the winery in Corrubbio di San Pietro in Cariano for vinification. The cellar is divided into two areas:  the first is where grapes are received, stocked, processed and the wine is bottled. The second room — quiet and protected — is where the wines are aged in small barrels and then left to mature slowly in bottle.