Amarone for Collectors: 24 Bottles to Buy and Keep

Few Italian wines get better for thirty years and longer. Amarone does. These are the bottles we would put in a collector’s cellar today, all from our own cellar in Venice: the three houses that shaped Amarone, riservas and single vineyards to lay down, a first shelf under €200, mature vintages ready to open, and magnums.

Chosen by Johann Depietri, sommelier at All’Amarone in Venice. Scores are for the exact vintage we sell. Prices and stock update live on this page. Last updated October 2026.

• The three houses
• To lay down
• Under €200
• Ready to open
• Magnums
• How to keep it
• Questions

Why Amarone belongs in a cellar

Amarone is made from grapes dried for three to four months before pressing (how the drying works). The grapes lose around 40% of their weight, so what is left is dense in sugar, acidity and tannin. Fermented dry, that gives a wine with the body and alcohol to age for decades.

Three things make it a collector’s wine:

• It ages. The great vintages of Bertani, Quintarelli and Dal Forno are still alive after forty years. Our oldest bottle on the shop today is a Bertani 1973.
• There is very little of it. The top houses sell by allocation. Shops get a few bottles of each vintage, and so do we.
• It disappears at the source. Once a vintage sells out at the winery, the only bottles left are in cellars. That is when prices start to climb.

The three houses that shaped Amarone

If you buy only three bottles, buy one from each of these. Every serious Amarone list starts with them.

Riservas and single vineyards to lay down

The next shelf: top bottlings from the great houses, with long drink windows and the scores to match. Most of these come to us in one to three bottles a year.

A first shelf under €200

A collection does not have to start at €300 a bottle. These score in the mid to high 90s and will all keep for fifteen years or more.

Mature vintages, ready to open

For the collector who wants to drink old Amarone now, or find a birth year. These bottles have rested in the producers’ cellars and ours, and are at or near their best.

Older Quintarelli (1991, 1993, 1995, 1998) and Bertani (1973, 1987) are on the shop too, one bottle each. Ask us if you are looking for a particular year.

Magnums

A magnum holds two bottles of wine under one cork, so there is less air for each glass of wine and it ages more slowly and evenly. For a cellar meant to last thirty years, a magnum is the safer bottle.

How to keep Amarone

• Cool and steady. 12 to 14°C, without swings between seasons. A steady 16°C is better than a cellar that goes from 8 to 20.
• Dark, still, lying down. Light and vibration age wine faster; a bottle on its side keeps the cork wet.
• Humidity around 70%. Drier air shrinks the cork over the years.
• Buy two. Open one halfway through its drink window, so you know when to open the other.
• Keep the invoice. Proof of where a bottle came from is the first thing a buyer asks for if you ever sell.

More detail in our guide to how Amarone ages.

Questions collectors ask us

How long can Amarone age?

A good Amarone keeps 15 to 20 years. The top houses in good vintages go 30 years and more: we still sell Bertani from 1973 and 1980.

Which Amarone is the best to collect?

Start with the three houses that shaped Amarone: Bertani, Quintarelli and Dal Forno. Then add riservas and single vineyards from Allegrini, Tommasi, Masi and Bussola.

Does Amarone go up in value?

The top names have so far. On our own list, older vintages of the same wine cost two to seven times the current release. That is history, not a promise: wine prices can also fall, so buy what you would be happy to drink.

Why is Amarone so expensive?

Drying the grapes costs around 40% of their weight, so the same vineyard gives far fewer bottles, and the wine then ages for years before release. The full answer.

Do you ship to collectors abroad?

Yes, to Europe and the United States, from our own cellar in Venice, insured and tracked. For the United States we pay the duties.

Can you hold a bottle while I decide?

Yes. Write to us and we keep it aside for you.