The Dal Forno dilemma

Dal Forno is one of Italy’s most iconic estates. It specialises in super-powerful Amarones sold at eye-watering prices. Tasting Dal Forno’s embryonic Valpolicella Superiore and Amarone upon release can be a chore due to the sheer mass of fruit, tannins, oak and alcohol (Dal Forno’s Amarone easily reaches 17%) and I always feel that the wines will not be ready for at least a decade or more, and maybe never. 

This fact has made me postpone any opinions I may have on the wines because their enormous concentration, from which I intuitively...