I have a friend who wants to try “the best” quintarelli (red) out there.
He wants to order from a store so it must be currently in stock and deliverable. Price is not an issue.
Can anyone suggest either:
what specific wine I should be looking for? (and I will try and find)
or links to specific vendor inventory that might have good candidates?
Thanks! I really want to do well for this request but I am out of my league.
I assuming you want a table wine and not a dessert wine. I would go for the 95. Its available form a few places (BP, Rare Wine, Wine Watch) for under $600 per bottle. All good stores. At 20, its probably in a great place right now. The 1997 is great as well, but the stores carrying it I am not as sure about (it is under $500). By the way, 1he 95 dessert wine (Recioto) is one of the greatest wines I have ever had.
Fwiw, I would stay away from the Alziero. It can be great but its Cab Franc, so maybe not the “true” experience.
JM2C
Italian Wine Merchants has always been the most consistent source for Quintarelli. The prices can be on the high side but the provenance is good.
It also depends on where you are and how soon you need it. I assume out-of-state shipment is out for the summer?
The 2000 Amarone is pretty great, and availability is good. If you come across the Amarone Riservas they are also pretty special albeit expensive
If he truly wants the best, go for Alzero or the Amarone Riserva, but it’s going to cost.
If you want something great, and easier on the wallet, find Rosso dei Bepi. The 1999 is magic. (this is what he makes in years where he “declassified” the Amarone. It’s the Amarone, just not by name.)
He truly wants the best. He’s only given me this type of request one other time and he spent much more on a bordeaux so cost is not an issue.
Thinking not dessert wine.
He is west coast so shipping is an issue. wants it asap.
I found a good quintarelli tasting session writeup on cellartracker and that is helping. Focusing on the amarone riservas - vintage depending on what I can find but maybe 86,88, 90,95 ?
thanks so much for the help. He looks to me for wine advice but I know very little about this. I happened to mention the best wine I’ve ever had was a 90 Quintarelli recioto (only quintarelli I’ve ever had) and that’s what set him off on this quest.
I haven’t had the Amarone or the Alzero, but the 1994 Ca del Merlo is one of the best wines I’ve ever had period.
Hard to go wrong with an 80s era Amarone; Quintarelli “declassified” his not so great years (the source of the Rosso di Beppe 94 noted above, still a pretty great wine), so any year that he did produce an Amarone would be great.
And the young vines stuff (like Ca del Merlo) is also good as is the rather harder to find and quite exotic Amabile (sweet white).
Quintarelli is my favorite producer. I sent you a PM. If you need to stick with the west coast, your best bet is probably the '88 Amarone Riserva available at Rare Wine Co. Other than the '90, you can’t do much better.
If you go for a '95, don’t bother with the Riserva. It’s not worth the extra cost in that vintage.
Also, if you look beyond the Amarone, the '90 Alzero, '90 Recioto Riserva, and '90 Bandito round are all best-of-class. Quintarelli’s output in the 1990 vintage, in my view, must be at or near the top of any list of legendary wines.
Rare Wine Co or BP should work for you depending on where you are on the West Coast. I still don’t think the Alzero gives the full experience if you haven’t had the Amarone (its Cab Franc made in Amarone style). I think I would still go for the 95, but the 88 Reserva is probably a bit better, although more of a crap shoot, for twice the cost.
I agree that Amarone is probably the better bet under the circumstances. Two notes about the Alzero, however:
(1) 1997 gets a lot of attention due to the Galloni review (and the wine is excellent), but 1990 is even better when you can find it.
(2) Alzero is a blend, not cab franc. The most recent blend as listed on Kermit Lynch’s website is 40-40-20 cab sauv, cab franc, and merlot. Do not take those numbers as gospel or assume that they apply to all vintages (to my knowledge they do not), but as far as I know the wine has always been a blend.
The Rare Wine Company has the 1990 Alzero for $745. Also the 1985 and 1988 Amarone Riserva for $975 and $985 respectively.
The 1995 Reserva would be my pick for a couple of reasons.
It’s the last vintage before the bottling line was installed. It’s probably the last vintage done entirely by the Maestro himself (his daughter and grandsons stepped in at this point as Giuseppe suffered the effects of Parkinson’s). And it’s an epic wine.
93 amarone is an omg wine. Rich, comples, changes every 5 min.
can someone describe the difference between the ca del’ merlo and the beppi ?
Thanks