Wine style
A rich, dried-grape red from Veneto, made by air-drying the grapes for months before fermenting.
A rich, dried-grape red from Veneto, made by air-drying the grapes for months before fermenting.
Drying concentrates everything — high alcohol, raisiny depth and a faintly sweet, velvety richness, all from light-bodied Corvina.
Amarone della Valpolicella is one of Italy’s grandest red wines, and it’s a perfect lesson in how winemaking — not just the grape or the place — can transform a wine. Most reds are pressed from fresh, juicy grapes. Amarone starts with the same light, tart Corvina grape behind everyday Valpolicella, then takes a dramatic detour: the grapes are dried for months before they’re ever pressed.
Why a learner should care: it shows that a humble, light-bodied grape can become deep, powerful and almost decadent purely through technique. Tasting Amarone teaches you what ‘concentration’ really means in a glass.
The name tells the story. Amaro means ‘bitter’ in Italian, and Amarone roughly means ‘the big bitter one’. The name set it apart from Recioto, the sweet dried-grape wine of the same area that Amarone grew out of — the story goes that a batch of Recioto fermented all the way to dry, and the dry style stuck. It’s a benchmark Italian red worth knowing.
Expect a full-bodied, powerful red — deep, warming and velvety.
• Body & alcohol: rich and weighty, with high alcohol. The rules set a 14% minimum, and most bottles land around 15–16%, giving a warm, almost glowing feel. • Sweetness: legally a dry wine, but the drying process leaves a touch of leftover sugar — usually low enough that you read it as a plush, ripe softness rather than tasting actual sweetness. • Tannin & acidity: smooth, ripe tannins (the grip that dries your gums) and surprisingly fresh acidity, which keeps all that richness lively rather than heavy.
On the nose and palate: dried cherry and fig lead, layered with raisin, dark chocolate, and often dried herbs, leather and a hint of bitter almond on the finish. It’s intense and lingering — a wine you sip slowly, not gulp.
Amarone is made in the Valpolicella hills of the Veneto region in northeast Italy, just north of Verona and stretching toward Lake Garda.
• Classico: wines from the original heartland of hillside villages west of Verona — often considered the most traditional, elegant style. • Valpantena: a specific valley that may appear on the label. • Wines without either term come from the broader, mostly flatter zone.
Label terms to know: Amarone carries Italy’s top quality rank, DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita), a guarantee of origin and rules — it was promoted to DOCG in 2010. You may also see Riserva, which means longer ageing before release (a minimum of four years, versus two for standard Amarone).
Don’t confuse it with the lighter, everyday red simply labelled Valpolicella, or with sweet Recioto della Valpolicella — same grapes and region, different styles.
The defining technique is appassimento (ah-pah-see-MEN-toh) — Italian for ‘drying’.
How it works: after harvest, the best whole bunches are laid out on mats or racks (or in modern drying rooms called fruttai) for roughly three to four months. As the grapes shrivel toward raisins, they lose up to 35–45% of their weight; water evaporates and sugar, flavour and colour become hugely concentrated. Only then are they pressed and slowly fermented — the extra sugar ferments out to that high alcohol, leaving the wine dry.
The grapes: Corvina is the star (alone or with its close relative Corvinone), blended with Rondinella and sometimes a splash of other local grapes such as Molinara — once required, now optional. Corvina is naturally light and high in acid, which is exactly why the concentration is so transformative.
Climate & soils: a temperate, hilly zone with calcareous (limestone) and volcanic soils; cool nights preserve the acidity that balances the wine. Long ageing in oak then adds spice and smooths the tannins.
Serving: pour at 16–18°C (lightly cool, not warm) in a large glass so the aromas open up. Decanting an hour ahead helps, especially with older bottles.
Food: this is a ‘meditation wine’ — wonderful on its own after dinner. With food, reach for rich, savoury dishes: braised beef, game, aged hard cheeses like Parmigiano. Skip delicate fish or salads, which it will overwhelm.
Ageing: good Amarone can cellar for 10–20 years, softening and gaining complexity.
Value & myths: it’s pricey partly because drying shrivels the grapes and sacrifices a lot of juice — fewer bottles per harvest. A common mix-up is Ripasso, a separate, more affordable wine made by re-passing Valpolicella over the leftover Amarone skins for a ‘baby Amarone’ effect. And despite the raisiny depth, true Amarone tastes dry — that richness is concentration, not sugar.
FAQ
Amarone della Valpolicella is a red wine from Veneto, Italy. A rich, dried-grape red from Veneto, made by air-drying the grapes for months before fermenting.
Amarone della Valpolicella is made from Corvina.
Serve 16-18°C in a large glass; a ‘meditation wine’ for after dinner or with hard cheese.
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