Appellation · Italy
Amarone della Valpolicella
The same grapes as Valpolicella, dried for months before pressing — a dry wine of extraordinary concentration and 15% or more alcohol.
Full-bodied, dry, very concentrated red with dried cherry, fig, chocolate and a bitter-almond finish. 15–16% alcohol is normal. Serve in small measures; it does not need food but rewards strong cheese.
About Amarone della Valpolicella
Amarone is made by drying the harvested grapes for three or four months before pressing them. Water evaporates, sugar and flavour concentrate, and the resulting must ferments to 15–16% alcohol or more.
The technique — appassimento — is ancient, and the sweet version, Recioto, is the older wine. Amarone is what happens when a Recioto ferments all the way to dryness, which was originally an accident. The name means "the big bitter one", distinguishing it from the sweet original.
The result is full-bodied, dry, and enormously concentrated: dried cherry, fig, chocolate, and a bitter almond finish that keeps it from being cloying despite the density.
The alcohol deserves stating plainly. Amarone routinely reaches 16%, which is around a third more alcohol per glass than a typical Valpolicella, and it should be poured accordingly.
Drying also raises the risk of rot, so the grapes must be perfect at harvest and the drying lofts carefully ventilated — which is a substantial part of the cost.
What the name means
- Legal name
- Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG
- Type
- Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG)
- Set by
- Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella, under MASAF
- Recognised
- 2010
- Regulates
- Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.
Everything a DOC controls, plus a compulsory analytical and tasting examination before bottling and a numbered state seal on the neck. The tier above DOC in regulatory strictness, which is not the same as guaranteed quality.
Made by *appassimento*: grapes are dried on racks or in ventilated lofts for roughly three to four months before pressing. Recioto della Valpolicella, the sweet version, uses the same technique.
Grapes
Wines from here
Rules worth knowing
Confirmed in the EU register
Amarone della Valpolicella is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-IT-A0435, protected at EU level since 2011.
Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013
Specification published: Ares(2023)6971225 · Official Journal
Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.
Production method
Amarone must be made from grapes dried after harvest by appassimento before pressing. The drying period concentrates sugars, which is what produces the wine’s characteristic alcohol level of around 15–16%.
Why it matters. The alcohol is a consequence of the method, not of a hot climate or of fortification. Amarone is not fortified — nothing is added — and a reader who assumes it is will misjudge both how it is made and how much of it to pour.
Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella, under MASAF · Consistently reported, not read at the regulator · checked 2026-08-16
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
Amarone della Valpolicella
Serve at 16–18°C (cool room temperature).
Try with roast chicken, fillet steak or grilled chicken.
Recioto della Valpolicella
Serve at 14–16°C (cellar cool).
Try with chocolate, tiramisu or dark chocolate.
Where to go next
Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.
- Valpolicella Classico — The original hillside heart of Valpolicella, in five valleys north-west of Verona.
- Soave — Garganega grown on volcanic and limestone hills east of Verona — a wine badly damaged by its own success and now largely recovered.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Italian DOP and IGP wine register — Ministero dell’agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste (MASAF)
- Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella — Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella