I've lost count of the number of times I've ignored this wine at supplier tastings because of its curiously shaped frosted bottle.  "Gimmick" I thought - "Probably all mouth and no trousers".  Then I was sent a sample of it when I was on the lookout for an Amarone and I sat up and took notice.  It shows wonderfully sweet, plummy fruit on the nose and ripe black cherry fruit on the palate, all backed up with some well-structured tannins.  Then the Amarone richness kicks in which moves the whole experience towards dark mocha reminding me of those black cherry liqueur chocolates that emerged at 1970s Christmases, and I was right back to being 10 years old when a liqueur chocolate was about as boozy as things got.

This is a blend of 70% Corvina, 20% Rondinella and 10% Molinarra grown in the Valpolicella Classico zone north of Verona.  The grapes are dried for 4 months which takes them through from harvest time to the following February, and then crushed.  Fermentation lasts for 4 months and the wine is then aged in Slovenian and French oak for 2 years.

I took the opened sample bottle home to see what the Missus thought of it. "Oh what a classy bottle!" she remarked before even tasting the wine.  Fair enough I guess.  Lesson learnt.  It's called a "satin finished" bottle apparently (hence Satinato) and was initially designed to protect the wines from the ocean's sun during the first exports to North America.  This would be perfect with game, rich red meat dishes but what you really want is a good selection of hard cheeses.