Amarone della Valpolicella

Amarone della Valpolicella is a rich, powerful and dry red from Veneto in northern Italy, made from partially dried grapes including Corvina and Corvinone. Expect black cherry, plum and dried fruit with chocolate, spice and tobacco. Full-bodied and warming, it’s brilliant with roast beef, steak, slow-cooked meat, lamb, mushroom dishes and mature cheese.

Taste:

Big, rich and absolutely not messing about.

Amarone is typically dry and full-bodied, with high alcohol, concentrated flavours and a rich, velvety texture. Expect black cherry, plum, blackberry, fig and raisin, alongside warming spice, chocolate and dried herbs.

Oak ageing and time in the bottle can add flavours of vanilla, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, leather and balsamic spice.

Despite being made from dried grapes, Amarone isn't normally a sweet wine. Fermentation converts most of that concentrated grape sugar into alcohol, creating its signature combination of richness, dried-fruit flavours and serious strength.

Basically, those grapes went away for a few months and came back with a completely new personality.

Food Pairings:

Amarone needs food with enough richness to keep up.

Try it with steak, ribeye, roast beef, beef short ribs, beef stew, braised beef or slow-cooked beef.

It's equally good with roast lamb, lamb shank, slow-cooked lamb shoulder or rich pork dishes.

Amarone's earthy, savoury side works brilliantly with mushroom risotto, porcini pasta, mushroom stew and truffle pasta.

Rich Italian dishes such as beef ragù and slow-cooked meat sauces are excellent matches too.

For cheese, this is the time to bring out the big hitters. Parmesan, Pecorino, aged Gouda, mature Cheddar and blue cheese all have enough flavour to stand alongside it.

Amarone can even work as an after-dinner wine alongside a mature cheese board. Dinner party showing off? Fully permitted.

Similar Wines:

If you enjoy Amarone, Ripasso della Valpolicella is essential exploring. It uses many of the same grapes and gains extra richness through contact with the remains of Amarone production, but is generally lighter and less powerful.

Valpolicella takes you further towards the fresh, fruity end of the same wine family.

For other rich Italian reds, Primitivo brings plenty of ripe fruit and warmth, while Brunello di Montalcino offers power and complexity with a very different Tuscan personality.

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More About Amarone della Valpolicella:

Amarone della Valpolicella comes from the Valpolicella area around Verona in Veneto, northeastern Italy.

Its distinctive character comes from the appassimento process. After harvest, grapes are dried for several months, traditionally on racks or mats, causing them to lose water and concentrating their sugars, flavours and aromas before fermentation.

Corvina and Corvinone are key grapes, commonly accompanied by Rondinella and other permitted local varieties.

The resulting wine must then undergo significant ageing before release, helping all that concentrated fruit, alcohol and structure settle into something considerably more polished.

Drying grapes for months just to make the wine more intense is an outrageous level of commitment.

Thankfully, it paid off.