A Christmas-cake nose, offering dates, raisins, nuts, spices and more. The same, intense and festive flavors on the palate, together with dried citrus rind and even a touch of balsamic. Full-bodied with some tight tannins that stem the flood of dried fruit a little, introducing a minerally note. But this essentially remains a dried-fruit gala. A little old-school, but super-clean and enjoyable. Drink or hold.

Dried sour cherries, savory spices, herbs and forest floor open the door to this old-school Amarone. Rich and mouth filling with a ton of cooked plums, fresh tobacco and graphite notes. The wine finishes with rounded tannins and a seemingly endless rich blackberry note.