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• Score: 96 Vintage 2019 Vinous Media A compelling bouquet of dusty dried violets, fresh coffee grounds, cocoa powder and dried black cherries makes the 2019 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano impossible to ignore. This is wonderfully lifted and graceful in style, dense yet energetic with silken textures and polished red berry fruits that slowly saturate the palate. The 2019 youthfully folds in upon itself, leaving a bitter tinge of spice, dark chocolate and fine-grained tannins. The balance here is something to behold. The 2019 is full of potential—bury it deep. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 95 Vintage 2019 James Suckling A single Amarone here, from one vineyard. If there was the legislation to promote single vineyard wine, the estate would likely make more of them. But as it stands, there is not. A large-framed wine with a coil of tannins, operating like a spring of expansion, tension and promotion, sashaying notes of coffee grind, camphor, bitter chocolate, mocha, clove, olive, Fernet Branca, balsamic and pithy cherry notes long across the palate on one hand, while tightening the structural latticework to keep them contained, poised and eminently drinkable, on the other. The more I go back to this, the more I like it. A sophisticated Amarone, with a wonderful skein of acidity towing length. Drinkable now, but best from 2025. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 95 Vintage 2018 Decanter From the company’s vineyards at Sant’Urbano, on the ridge separating the valleys of Fumane and Marano, the Speri Amarone is made in a beautifully balanced and slightly lighter style which nonetheless ages extremely well. Soft and dreamy red fruit aromas with candied notes as well as cinnamon bark and black pepper introduce a full, ripe and juicy palate with rich, dark plum and black cherry flavours of great freshness thanks to its crisp acidity. Round and long with spice and seasoned wood notes to finish, this is very good indeed. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2018 James Suckling Dark cherries, blackberries, mussels, licorice, figs and some finely ground black chocolate, following through to a medium-to full-bodied palate with elegant berries and a bittersweet black-chocolate note. A refined, textbook Amarone that shows great poise and modern drinkability. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2018 Vinous Media There's an exotic flair to the 2018 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano as foreign spices, dusty dried roses, red currants and blood orange hints form its bouquet. This is supple and enveloping with stimulating acidity that adds an energetic feel, as tart cherry and raspberry fruits drench the palate. Its minerality comes through in the finish, almost salty in character as grippy tannins saturate, yet the wine remains amazingly fresh. The 2018 is wonderfully balanced and potent, a total success for the vintage. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 93 Vintage 2018 Wine Advocate The organic Speri 2018 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano sees air-dried Corvina Veronese, Rondinella and Molinara to achieve classic results. From a dry vintage, the wine offers extra concentration and richness with dried cherry, blackcurrant, baking chocolate, licorice and some lingering balsam herb. This full-bodied wine reveals a balanced and focused approach. This a release of 98,000 bottles. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 92 Vintage 2018 Wine Enthusiast Intense floral aromas pour out of the glass on this super-pretty Amarone. As the wine opens, the ripe plum, blueberry and cassis aromas spin in the glass, with a touch of sweet tobacco in the background. The mouthfilling wine is hemmed in with fine tannins and enough acidity to keep lush, dominant fruit flavors at bay. An earthiness at the end keeps you interested in how this wine will evolve next. Drink now–2035. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 91 Vintage 2018 Wine Spectator A compact, medium- to full-bodied red, with macerated cherry and raspberry fruit flavors underscored by hints of forest floor and brambly brush. Gains complexity from accents of coffee liqueur, mandarin orange peel and dark chocolate. Taut, well-spiced finish. Drink now through 2028. 8,000 cases made, 1,200 cases imported. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 92 Vintage 2017 Wine Advocate The organic Speri 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano has a bright and fruit-driven bouquet with dark fruit, candied cherry and a sun-drenched aroma somewhere along the lines of rum cake or raisin. This Amarone offers good balance underlined by power (with a 15% alcohol content), fruit weight and concentration. Speri is a grounded winery that offers consistent quality year in and year out. That's true even in a hot and challenging vintage like 2017. Some 92,000 bottles were released. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2012 Vinous Media The 2004 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano is a seductress, with a wildly fresh yet sweetly alluring bouquet that blends crushed black cherries, blueberries, balsamic spices and violet florals. This is cool-toned yet dense and powerful, with depths of dark red and blue fruits that saturate the senses as a twang of sour orange adds contrast. This finishes with tremendous length and is decidedly savory, leaving a salty sensation as the mouth waters for more. Earth tones and hints of clove slowly fade. The 2004 is in an absolutely perfect place. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2012 Wine Enthusiast This complex and fragrant wine opens with dried violet, black plum and cooking spice aromas. The smooth, well-structured palate doles out blackberry jam, pipe tobacco, ripe black cherry, nutmeg and licorice flavors. Velvety tannins provide elegant support. Drink through 2027. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2010 Wine Enthusiast From one of Valpolicella's storied estates, this single-vineyard Amarone combines structure and elegance. It seamlessly weaves together intense sensations of crushed black plum, blackberry, black pepper, cinnamon, tilled earth and leather. Balanced with fresh acidity and velvety tannins, it boasts an extraordinarily smooth texture. Drink 2015–2025. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2008 Wine Enthusiast From one of the Valpolicella's best producers, this vineyard-designate Amarone is amazingly soft and velvety, with aromas of softly worn leather, moist chewing tobacco, ripe black cherry and barbecue smoke. It's an elegant but modern rendition, showing power, intensity and impressive length. Best yet, the fruit is young enough to promise more years of graceful aging. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 95 Vintage 2004 Vinous Media The 2004 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano is a seductress, with a wildly fresh yet sweetly alluring bouquet that blends crushed black cherries, blueberries, balsamic spices and violet florals. This is cool-toned yet dense and powerful, with depths of dark red and blue fruits that saturate the senses as a twang of sour orange adds contrast. This finishes with tremendous length and is decidedly savory, leaving a salty sensation as the mouth waters for more. Earth tones and hints of clove slowly fade. The 2004 is in an absolutely perfect place. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 93 Vintage 1995 Vinous Media Darkly alluring, the 1995 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano smolders up from the glass with a bouquet of cedar shavings and dried violets, giving way to steeped plums and lifted hints of camphor. This is a model of elegance, seamless, with textures of pure silk and a core of tart black cherries offset by a salty core of minerality. Still structured, this finishes long and full of tension as grippy tannins tug at the senses and notions of licorice slowly fade. The 1995 may be immortal, but I wonder if its tannins will ever fully resolve. This is the first vintage in which Speri began to use tonneaux as part of the aging process. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 96 Vintage 1990 James Suckling It is amazing to glimpse the controlled alcohols across the Amarone of this estate, seldom - if ever - breaching 15%. This is quite the miracle given the number of wines I have tasted that breach 17%. The pursuit of freshness, the essence. Camphor, mint, mountain herb and the extract of dried leather meld with varnish, porcini and a thrust of well-handled volatility carrying this long and fresh. Exceptional. Drink or hold. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 1988 Vinous Media Fully mature yet deeply sensual, the 1988 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano opens with an earthy blend of crushed rocks, sous bois, hints of animal musk and shavings of cedar. It washes across the palate with surprisingly juicy textures, mixing tart dried berries with dark chocolate and exotic spices. Fresh acidity maintains remarkable energy despite the 1988’s power and density, finishing long and staining. A cheek-puckering bitter sensation makes for a wonderful punctuation to the experience. While moving slightly past peak, there is still plenty of life here, and many years left before it begins to go downhill. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 93 Vintage 1977 Vinous Media The 1977 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sant'Urbano is amazingly fresh for its age. Deeply complex, it displays a bouquet of dried flowers, cedar, cocoa powder and hints of raw honey. This flows across the palate with silken textures, guided by brisk acidity that adds an energetic feel. A pretty inner sweetness emerges as dried black cherry and dark chocolate tones resonate over a staining of salty minerals. It finishes with medium length, shorter than expected but still remarkable for its age, leaving notions of licorice and a smoky sensation that lingers on and on. The 1977 vintage would have been considered a good year were it not for a strong hailstorm in September that seriously reduced yields. Shelf Talker Full Page Review