Michele Castellani Valpolicella Classico Superiore I Castei Costamaran Ripasso 2004

With our pizza dinner I opened a bottle of this Valpolicella which pleased Deborah. Initially the wine was rude and a touch volatile, but did slowly settle down and showed aromas of stewed plum, morello cherries, leather, almonds, vanilla and some soft game notes. The palate was quite rich and deep, with some nice soft fruits over quite smooth and dense tannins. The wine did keep refining down and showed considerable finesse towards our final glasses. Overall a very nice, denser style of Valpolicella. Decanting definitely recommended.
50+44+13+17+8 = 92/100