The Masi Serego Alighieri 2018 Valpolicella Classico Superiore MontePiazzo shows dried cherry and blackberry, but the bouquet is also lifted by a hint of medicinal or balsam herb. This started off as a cooler vintage with lots of rain in spring months, and the growing season concluded on a hot, very dry note. You sense those seasonal shifts in this wine with herbal notes and jammy flavors at the same time. This is a 39,900-bottle release.

The Masi Serego Alighieri 2017 Valpolicella Classico Superiore MontePiazzo (packaged in a heavy glass bottle) is aged in Slavonian oak and cherrywood. The blend of grapes is 70% Covina, 20% Rondinella and 10% Molinara (a special proprietary clone is used). This is a dark and almost impenetrable wine from a hot and dry vintage. You taste some of the dry sweetness of the cherrywood and the fruit power and concentration that is characteristic of 2017. Despite that aromatic power, the wine is shorter lived on the palate. Production is 42,200 bottles.

Matured in large cherrywood casks, which Boscaini claims helps to emphasize the cherry fruit of the Corvina grape. It’s light, yet very flavorful, packing in lots of dried spices, leather and cocoa, along with floral and cherry notes. Finishes long and spicy.——W.E.(5/1/2003)—— 88

For all intents and purposes, Masi makes this wine (but in conjunction with the Alighieri family). It’s leathery in the nose, with chocolate and raisin aromas. Prune and milk chocolate flavors dominate prior to a fairly long, textured finish. Let it be noted that one reviewer liked this wine quite a bit more than the other panelists, even going so far as to recommend it as an accompaniment to meats and cheeses.——W.E.(5/1/2003)—— 85