Red Grape · Veneto
Valpolicella's big Corvina that turned out to be its own grape: thick-skinned, late to ripen, and the reason a modern Amarone dries so well.
Corvinone is the big-berried red grape of Valpolicella that everyone took for a large Corvina until 1993. It is a separate variety, and it dries better than any of its neighbours. That is why it now sits in most Amarone, Ripasso and Recioto, where it can stand in for up to half the Corvina.
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Setting it straight
The anchor fact: Corvinone was filed as a large form of Corvina until 1993. It is a separate variety, and the rules now let it replace up to half the Corvina in Valpolicella and Amarone.
Taste · Where it sits
Forget scores out of five. Here’s Corvinone described against grapes you already know.
Bigger, juicier berries give more flesh than Corvina fresh; dried for Amarone it carries most of the wine's weight.
More grip than Rondinella, rounder than Corvina; the thick skins give structure that appassimento then softens.
Less fresh than Corvina or the old Molinara, which is why blends still keep some of each; the late harvest ripens the acidity away.
Dark plum and black cherry fresh; after three months on the racks it is raisin, fig and chocolate, the Amarone signature.
Key flavours
The map
Corvinone is full-bodied, firm tannin, mapped against other red grapes you can buy. The closer a grape sits, the more its weight and grip resemble Corvinone.
Is this for you?
Reach for it when…
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Serving guide
Serve at
16-18°C
Valpolicella at 14 to 16C; Ripasso at 16; Amarone at 18C so the dried fruit opens.
Decant
1 hours
Basic Valpolicella needs none; give a young Amarone an hour, and pour an old one gently.
Glass
Large Balloon Glass
A big bowl for Amarone; a standard red glass is enough for Valpolicella and Ripasso.
Drink within
3-5 days
Valpolicella within three years; Ripasso within five.
Cellar
3-15 years
Amarone with a big Corvinone share keeps 15 to 25 years; its shops suggest up to 25 for Reius.
On the table
Start with the home-table matches that made the grape, then browse the full cuisine library.
With an Amarone
Dark, slow-cooked game matches the dried-fruit weight of an Amarone; Corvinone's soft, fleshy side keeps the wine round against the richness of the meat.
With a Ripasso
Duck fat needs a red with flesh and a raisin edge; a Ripasso built on Corvinone has the body of an Amarone at half the alcohol.
With a Valpolicella Classico
Bitter radicchio wants a light red with soft tannin; the Corvinone in a young Valpolicella rounds the wine so the bitterness reads as pleasant, not harsh.
With a Recioto
Sweet raisin and fig against salty blue cheese: Recioto is made from the same dried Corvinone as Amarone, with the fermentation stopped while it is still sweet.
Buy it · three to start with
A curated trio across the price range, then every Corvinone on sale in the UK right now.
Entry · everyday
3 retailers
Trevenezie
3 retailers
£11.41
Why this one: Sartori's L'Appassione part-dries Corvina and Corvinone before fermenting: silky, cherry and tobacco, about £11.
The sweet spot
6 retailers
Verona/Veronese
6 retailers
£18.50
Why this one: Allegrini dries part of the Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella and referments the rest on it, then 15 months in barrique: plum, chocolate, liquorice, around £18.
Special occasion
6 retailers
Amarone della Valpolicella
6 retailers
£27.61
Why this one: An Amarone Classico that names Corvinone on the label: hillside grapes air-dried three months, three years in oak, dried fig and chocolate at 15%. About £33.
12 of 144 bottles
6 retailers
Verona/Veronese
6 retailers
£18.50
6 retailers
Amarone della Valpolicella
6 retailers
£27.61
5 retailers
Valpolicella Ripasso
5 retailers
£26.00
£29.00
5 retailers
Amarone della Valpolicella
5 retailers
£60.00
5 retailers
Veneto
5 retailers
£74.13
5 retailers
Valpolicella
5 retailers
£84.13
4 retailers
Valpolicella Ripasso
4 retailers
£21.00
4 retailers
Valpolicella
4 retailers
£32.00
4 retailers
Amarone della Valpolicella
4 retailers
£262.00
3 retailers
Trevenezie
3 retailers
£11.41
3 retailers
Valpolicella
3 retailers
£21.62
3 retailers
Amarone della Valpolicella
3 retailers
£45.90
Denominations
The appellations where Corvinone plays a starring role.
Where it grows
Italy's largest wine region by volume, where Prosecco hills, Valpolicella ridges, and Soave's volcanic plain shape three different Italian classics.
The terroir
Corvinone grows where Corvina grows, in the hills north-west of Verona, and almost nowhere else on earth: one hectare in Argentina is the whole foreign total.
Valpolicella Classico
Negrar, Fumane, Marano, San Pietro in Cariano, Sant'Ambrogio
The five valleys where it was always planted between the Corvina; the estates here (Allegrini at Fumane, Brunelli at San Pietro, Sartori at Negrar) lead with it in Amarone.
The drying lofts
Every estate's fruttaio, from September to January
Not a place on the map but the place the grape earns its keep: big berries losing water slowly for Amarone and Recioto.
Bardolino and the lake
The morainic hills by Lake Garda
Allowed in Bardolino too, but here Corvina and Rondinella still lead; Corvinone is a minor part of the lighter, paler wines.
Editorial
For two centuries the growers of Valpolicella planted Corvinone next to Corvina and called it big Corvina. The bunches are larger and looser, the berries much bigger and juicier, and the vine ripens later, so nobody looked closer. In 1993 two researchers, Cancellier and Angelini, showed it was a different grape, and Italy's grape register listed it as its own variety that year. The international catalogue still files it as Corvinone Veronese, with Corvina Grossa among its old names.
Corvina veronese and Corvinone: two different varieties. The 1993 paper that gave the big grape its own name.
Cancellier and Angelini, Vignevini, 1993, cited in Italy's national grape registerOnce it had a name, it took off. Plantings grew from about 88 hectares in 2000 to 930 by 2010, almost all around Negrar, Fumane, Marano, San Pietro in Cariano and Sant'Ambrogio in the Veneto. Over the same ten years Molinara, the old third grape of the blend, fell from 1,300 hectares to under 600. Corvinone gives deeper colour and better flavour, and its thick skin dries without rotting.
That drying is the point. Amarone and Recioto are made from grapes laid out in lofts for months after the harvest, the appassimento, and a big, thick-skinned berry loses water slowly and evenly. The rules for Valpolicella and Amarone let Corvinone replace up to half of the Corvina, with Rondinella at 5 to 30%. So a modern Amarone can be more Corvinone than anything else, even though the label never says so.
On its own the wine is dark, soft and plummy, with less of Corvina's cherry and bitter-almond bite. Nobody bottles it alone in the UK. What you buy is the blend: a fresh Valpolicella, a Ripasso with a raisin edge, or an Amarone at 15% and more. Our Valpolicella guide walks through all of them.
Good to know
Corvinone is a red grape from Valpolicella, near Verona, with bigger, looser bunches than Corvina. It was thought to be a form of Corvina until 1993. It is now one of the main grapes in Amarone, Ripasso, Recioto and Valpolicella, always in a blend.
No. They grew side by side for centuries and Corvinone was called big Corvina, but DNA and vine studies in 1993 showed it is a separate variety. Corvinone has larger berries, ripens later and dries better; Corvina has more cherry and bitter-almond character.
Up to half. The rules for Amarone and Valpolicella require 45 to 95% Corvina, and Corvinone may replace up to 50% of that share. Many producers now use a lot of it because its thick skins dry so well, but the label rarely names it.
Dark and soft, with plum and black cherry and less of Corvina's bitter edge. Dried for Amarone it turns to raisin, fig and chocolate, with a full, velvety body. It is rarely bottled alone, so you taste it inside the blend.
Because it makes a darker, fuller wine. From 2000 to 2010 Corvinone plantings rose from 88 to 930 hectares while Molinara fell from 1,300 to under 600. Molinara brings acidity and a pale colour; Corvinone brings colour, flesh and grapes that dry well.
Amarone and Ripasso, where the dried grape does its work. Sartori's Reius Amarone and Allegrini's Palazzo della Torre both name it in the blend. For a lighter taste of it, any Valpolicella Classico from Negrar, Fumane or Marano will have some.
Explore by style
Jump to the editorial guide for each style this grape turns up in.
Keep exploring
1,439 wines
41 denominations
