Tommasi launches $300 ‘luxury’ Amarone in the US

Tommasi Family Estates launched a new standalone luxury brand, De Buris Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva, in America this week, priced at $300 a bottle.

Making its debut with the 2008 vintage, De Buris Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva will be brought into the US by Vintus LLC.

“We’ve had the dream a long time to launch a luxury brand, and we wanted it to be an Amarone, which is where we started,” said Pierangelo Tommasi, executive director for the company, which in recent years has expanded production of the Tommasi brand across Italy.

“At the same time, we wanted it to be a standalone brand with no mention of Tommasi on the front label.”

Tommasi says that in creating a standalone brand the company is following the lead of producers such as Orneillaia with its Masseto brand.

Total production for the 2008 inaugural vintage includes 7,950 75cl bottles and 300 magnums.

The fruit comes from the top of the slope of the company’s La Groletta vineyard in the middle of the Sant’Ambrogio de Valpolicella region, about 1.9 hectares in total.

Corvina accounts for 62% of the blend, Corvione for 25%, Rondinella 5% and Oseleta 8%, slightly more of the latter than is normally used in the company’s Amarone.

Additionally, the alcohol is slightly higher than the standard Tommasi Amarones at 15.65%, and there is less residual sugar, at 4.08 g/l, than in the family version.

Tommasi says De Buris will be a lifestyle brand, noting that the historic villa on the estate is being transformed into a guest house.

De Buris will go on sale in the UK tomorrow and is being represented in Britain by Maisons Marques et Domaines.