Italy · red
Amarone della Valpolicella
Dried-grape red of enormous concentration: 15–16% alcohol, dried-fruit intensity, and technically dry.
What is Amarone della Valpolicella?
Grapes are dried on racks or in ventilated lofts for several months, losing a substantial share of their water. The concentrated must is then fermented all the way to dryness, which is what pushes alcohol to 15–16%.
The name means "the bitter one", distinguishing it from Recioto — the sweet version, where fermentation is stopped early. Amarone is generally understood to have begun as an accidental Recioto that fermented too far.
It reads as intense rather than sweet, though a few grams of residual sugar are common and some commercial examples are noticeably sweeter than others.
Grapes
What it tastes like
| Dimension | Typical | Range | Variation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweetness | low-medium | Some variation | |
| Acidity | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Tannin | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Alcohol | high | Some variation | |
| Body | high | Some variation | |
| Fruit intensity | high | Some variation | |
| Aromatic intensity | medium | Consistent | |
| Oak influence | medium | Some variation | |
| Savoury character | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Floral character | low | Consistent | |
| Herbal / green character | low | Consistent | |
| Spice | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Earthy character | low | Consistent | |
| Perceived freshness | medium | Some variation | |
| Texture | high | Some variation |
Common flavours
What makes it this way
The decisions and conditions that produce this style rather than another.
- *Appassimento* drying for around 100–120 days before pressing
- Fermentation run to dryness, unlike Recioto
- A long mandated ageing period before release
- Very high alcohol as a direct consequence of the drying
How it is made
Why does it taste like that?
The grape, the growing season, the winemaking and the age — what each contributes, and what none of them determines.
See what makes Amarone della Valpolicella taste the way it does →
If you like Amarone della Valpolicella, try…
Each suggestion says why it is connected and what will be different.
Closest matches
What is most like this?
Primitivo di Manduria
Another very ripe, high-alcohol, dried-fruit Italian red.
Jammier and simpler, without the bitter-almond finish.
Valpolicella Ripasso
Built from the same skins, at a fraction of the price.
Much lighter and less concentrated.
Dalmatian Plavac Mali
The structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, and both sit in the same style family.
Expect it to be drier, and softer and rounder.
Similar but lighter
Something like this, but lighter?
Valpolicella Ripasso
Built from the same skins, at a fraction of the price.
Much lighter and less concentrated.
Corvina
Both are made from corvina, and the structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be leaner and more cutting, and fresher.
Fetească Neagră
The structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, and both sit in the same style family.
Expect it to be drier, and more restrained in fruit.
Similar but lower in alcohol
Something like this, but less alcoholic?
Valpolicella Ripasso
Built from the same skins, at a fraction of the price.
Much lighter and less concentrated.
Corvina
Both are made from corvina, and the structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be leaner and more cutting, and lighter.
Washington Cabernet Sauvignon
The structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, and both sit in the same style family.
Expect it to be drier, and fresher.
Similar but less tannic
Something like this, but softer on the gums?
Argentine Malbec
The structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, and both sit in the same style family.
Expect it to be more floral, and drier.
Barbera d’Alba
They occupy similar territory for weight and structure, and both come from the same country.
Expect it to be less tannic and softer, and less spicy.
Barbera d’Asti
They occupy similar territory for weight and structure, and both come from the same country.
Expect it to be less tannic and softer, and less spicy.
What to eat with it
Roast chicken
Works because the protein and fat in the dish soften the tannin and let the fruit show.
Fillet steak
Works because the finished dish, not the raw ingredient, sets the target.
Grilled chicken
Works because ripe fruit balances the bitterness of char and smoke.
Pork
Works because the protein and fat in the dish soften the tannin and let the fruit show.
Pork chops
Works because the protein and fat in the dish soften the tannin and let the fruit show.
Turkey
Works because the finished dish, not the raw ingredient, sets the target.
What to avoid with it
Dishes the pairing engine scores badly, and the principle that explains why. A short list: most things are fine.
How to serve it
Temperature
16–18°C
61–64°F · Cool room temperature
Most modern rooms are warmer than this. Twenty to thirty minutes in the fridge before serving usually gets a red into range.
Decanting
Worth decanting
Young, firmly tannic wine often softens noticeably with an hour of air — the most reliable case for decanting.
Roughly 45–120 minutes.
Glass
Bordeaux glass
Recommended editorially for this specific style.
Ageing
Ages for twenty years or more, moving further towards dried fruit, leather and walnut.
Ageing potential
Can age a long time
A decade and often far longer · confidence: low
Built for it. The best examples change substantially and are often better at twenty years than at five. The worst examples of the same style are not, which is why the producer matters more here than anywhere.
Why
- Favours ageing. Acidity. High. Acidity is the single best predictor of longevity across every style — a low-pH wine is more stable both chemically and microbiologically.
- Favours ageing. Tannin. High. Tannins are antioxidants consumed by oxygen ahead of the fruit, and they soften as they polymerise — which is the improvement people mean by "coming round".
- Favours ageing. Concentration. Full-bodied and concentrated. This correlates with longevity rather than causing it, but a wine with more to lose takes longer to lose it.
What this cannot tell you
- Age is not improvement. A great many wines are made to be drunk within two years and get worse, not better, with time — and there is no shame in a style that is at its best young.
- WineHQ does not publish drinking windows. A window like "2032–2041" requires knowing the producer, the vintage and how the bottle was stored, and a style-level model knows none of those.
- Bottle variation at twenty years is large, especially under cork, where oxygen ingress differs between individual closures from the same batch.
Compare
- Amarone vs Valpolicella — Same grapes, same hills — how does one become 16% and the other 12%?
- Amarone vs Port — Two enormous Italian and Portuguese reds — is Amarone fortified?
- Amarone vs Ripasso — The full-price version, and the one made from what it left behind.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Italian DOP and IGP wine register — Ministero dell’agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste (MASAF)
- eAmbrosia — the EU geographical indications register — European Commission