Veneto · DOCG
Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG
Amarone della Valpolicella is Veneto's flagship DOCG red, made from dried Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella grapes. After 100 to 120 days of appassimento in fruttai lofts, the berries lose nearly half their weight, concentrating sugar and polyphenols into a dry, full-bodied wine that typically tops 15 percent alcohol.
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Sub-zones
Taste & Pairing
Taste Profile
Key Flavours
Black cherry
Prune
Cocoa
Leather
Liquorice
Pairs With
Amarone della Valpolicella Wine Selection
2 selected wines
Editorial
Amarone della Valpolicella Vintage Guide
Quality of Amarone della Valpolicella vintages
How Amarone della Valpolicella is Made
After harvest the grapes are laid out on bamboo mats or plastic trays in fruttai lofts and dried from late September into January, roughly 100 to 120 days, losing 35 to 45 percent of their weight. Fermentation starts in cold winter cellars with native yeasts working slowly on the concentrated must. DOCG rules require Corvina 45 to 95 percent, with Corvinone permitted to replace up to half the Corvina share; Rondinella sits at 5 to 30 percent, complementary varieties up to 25 percent. Minimum ageing runs two years from the January after harvest, typically in Slavonian oak botti, French tonneaux, or smaller barriques. Finished wines must reach at least 14 percent alcohol, in practice often above 15.
In-Depth Guide
Dried, intensely flavoured: black cherry, dried fig, raisin, cocoa, leather, and sweet spices, with a dry finish, pronounced alcohol heat, and firm tannins. The dried grapes give the weight and concentration, the long ageing adds the savoury edges.
Fresh Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella grapes dry on mats in fruttai lofts for 100 to 120 days, losing 35 to 45 percent of their weight. Concentrated must then ferments slowly in cold winter cellars and ages at least two years, usually in oak.
Rich, slow-cooked meats: brasato al Amarone (the wine's namesake braise), ossobuco, wild boar ragu, aged hard cheeses like Monte Veronese stravecchio or Parmigiano Reggiano 24 mesi. The wine's weight needs protein and umami to match.
Valpolicella is a light, fresh red from the same grapes, no drying. Amarone uses fully dried grapes, long ageing, and 14-plus percent alcohol. Ripasso takes Valpolicella base wine and re-ferments it over Amarone pomace, sitting in between on body and price.
Drinkable from 5 years after vintage, at its peak between 8 and 15 years, and the best Riserva bottlings (4-year minimum ageing) keep for 20 to 30 years in good cellar conditions.
A subzone designation covering the five original Valpolicella communes north-west of Verona: Negrar, Marano, Fumane, Sant'Ambrogio, and San Pietro in Cariano. These hillside vineyards are generally regarded as the quality heartland.
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