In just 40 years of upending Amarone and Valpolicella winemaking in the Veneto, Azienda Agricola Dal Forno Romano now counts among Italy’s top wine producers, if not among the world’s best, for wine lovers who have an unslakable thirst for their Amarone della Valpolicella and Valpolicella Superiore. Dal Forno’s vineyards are located in Illasi where, being outside Italy’s Valpolicella Zona Classica, people thought it would be foolish to attempt making wine. Well, that question has long since been settled.
Today Dal Forno Amarone fetches almost the same price as Bordeaux’s Grand Crus. By all accounts, the recognition is worth it. Dal Forno’s Amarone is called the ‘Petrus of the Veneto”. Fine & Rare Wines UK says, “The wines are some of the deepest, densest, most concentrated, and age-worthy expressions of the region, yet they bear the freshness and finesse that is remarkable for wines of this stature. “ Antonio Galloni goes farther and says “Dal Forno should really change the name of their Valpolicella Superiore. This is really an Amarone for all practical intents and purposes, made entirely from fruit that has been dried, although for less time than that legally required for Amarone.”
Entailing an exacting and laborious process, everything starts with quality of the fruit. It is not every year that the target threshold of quality is realized. In some years no Amarone is made. Dal Forno, producing 1,500 cases at most annually, makes their wines from small yields and a rigorous selection of grapes consisting primarily of Corvina, at around 60% of a blend. Reviving almost-forgotten indigenous grape varieties, lesser proportions of Corvinone and Rondinella are added. Proving to be of more notable character and higher quality, Croatina and Oseleta are also included in blends, replacing the traditional Molinara, said to have been banned from the family vineyards by patriarch and Dal Forno founder Romano Del Forno.
10 vines go into making one bottle of Amarone, 7 vines for Valpolicella. As this is Valpolicella, where the practice of appassimento, or drying of the fruit, is called for, the fruit is dried 3 months for Amarone, and 1 ½ months for Valpolicella. Sorting is done once before drying, and once more afterwards. All wines stay 2 years in all-new French oak, giving the wood a crucial role in the ageing process, without letting it overpower the wine. Then the wine rests another 4 years in bottle before it is released.
Azienda Agricola Dal Forno Romano is still family-run. Romano is joined by his wife Loretta and three of their sons, Luca, Marco, and Michele, in operating the business. They have come a long way from the days Romano’s father and grandfather entered the world of viticulture selling their grapes to co-ops. Dal Forno have played a pivotal role in the wine world and are prime movers within the Veneto. -PWX
“The wines of Romano Dal Forno prove to be, impossible to duplicate. They show such a high degree of individual personality that they occupy their own school of stylistic expression. In fact, they share very little, if anything, with the rest of vino italiano.”
– Monica Larner, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The following Dal Forno wines are available in limited quantities at Premium Wine Exchange.
● Dal Forno Amarone Valpolicella 2017
● Dal Forno Amarone Valpolicella 2015
● Dal Forno Amarone Valpolicella 2006
● Dal Forno Amarone Valpolicella 2008
● Dal Forno Cassetta Storica 2008 | 2009
● Dal Forno Valpolicella Superiore 2017
Get the chance to taste these impeccable and rare wines at the upcoming Dal Forno Romano Wine Dinner on Tuesday, 17 October 2023, 6:30PM at The Keep, Raging Bull, Shangri-La Plaza The Fort. Visit our website (www.pwxchange.com.ph) or our IG account (pwxchange) for details.
Photo credits:
Italy’s Finest Wines
Dal Forno Romano
B-et-C
What’s Available Now In Store at PWX
PHP 29,000
PHP 22,000
PHP 28,000
PHP 32,000
Price not available as individual bottle
(sold in Dal Forno Historical Box 2008/2009*)
PHP 85,000
PHP 8,700
PHP 8,700
