Tag Archives: amarone della valpolicella
The Beginner’s Guide to Amarone Wine
Amarone della Valpolicella is a dry red wine from the hills north of Verona, made from Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella grapes dried for three to four months before pressing. The drying concentrates everything and pushes the wine to 15 or 16% alcohol. It is aged at least two years and keeps for decades.
Why is Amarone wine so expensive & why is it worth the price tag?
Amarone costs what it does because drying the grapes throws away 35 to 40% of the volume before fermentation starts, the drying lofts must be built and watched for four months, the law requires two years of ageing before sale, and only the best fruit on the estate is selected for it.
A History of Amarone della Valpolicella
Amarone was an accident. The Valpolicella made sweet Recioto from dried grapes for centuries, and Amarone is what happens when that fermentation is allowed to run all the way to dry. The first bottles labelled Amarone appeared in the 1930s and 1940s. The DOCG followed in 2010.
The different Valpolicella wine styles
The Valpolicella makes four wines from the same grapes. Valpolicella DOC is light and fresh, pressed from fruit picked and used straight away. Superiore is the same wine aged a year. Ripasso is re-fermented on Amarone skins. Amarone and sweet Recioto are made from grapes dried for months before pressing.
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