Amarone

Amarone della Valpolicella is a red wine with a protected origin: a DOCG, the highest tier in Italian wine law. The DOCG recognition followed by ministerial decree of 24 March 2010. Before that the wine had already been a DOC since 1968.

The wine comes from the Valpolicella in the province of Verona. Within that area two designations apply that you may come across on the label:

• Classico: only for wine from the five historic municipalities Negrar, Marano, Fumane, Sant'Ambrogio and San Pietro in Cariano.
• Valpantena: a separately delimited valley within the production area.

The regulations prescribe a minimum alcohol content of 14% vol. We have a separate page about Valpolicella as a region.

Red wine Amarone is made from native grapes, with fixed proportions from the production regulations (disciplinare):

• Corvina Veronese and/or corvinone: 45 to 95 percent.
• Rondinella: 5 to 30 percent.
• Other permitted red grapes: together at most 25 percent, of which at most 15 percent non-aromatic red varieties and the rest local Italian varieties.

Corvina therefore forms the backbone. Corvinone may take the place of corvina in whole or in part, so the share of each grape differs from one winery to another. You can see that choice in the technical data that producers themselves publish about their Amarone.

Appassimento is the drying of the harvested grapes before they are pressed. According to the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella, the bunches lie for about three months in well-ventilated drying rooms, the fruttai, losing 30 to 50 percent of their weight in the process. Sugar and extract are thereby concentrated.

The regulation sets out a few fixed points:

• The dried grapes may not be processed into wine before 1 December.
• Amarone matures for at least two years, counted from 1 January of the year after the harvest.
• Artificial climate control in the drying room is only permitted at temperatures comparable to traditional drying.

The wine is fermented through until it is dry, and that is where the difference with Recioto comes from.

Riserva means the wine has aged longer than the regular Amarone. The regulations prescribe ageing of at least four years for an Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva, counted from 1 November of the harvest year. For a regular Amarone it is two years from 1 January after the harvest.

Several designations can come together on the label, for example Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva DOCG. Wine houses also often give a bottle a name of their own, such as a vineyard or a house name. Such a name is a choice by the producer and not a separate category within the appellation.

All three come from the Valpolicella and involve dried grapes, but they are different wines:

• Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG is the sweet wine. According to the Consorzio, it is the forerunner of Amarone and the oldest wine of the appellation. The grapes are dried in the same way, but fermentation is deliberately stopped so that sugar remains.
• Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG does ferment fully and is therefore dry.
• Valpolicella Ripasso DOC is a regular Valpolicella that ferments again on the leftover skins of Amarone and/or Recioto. The word means 'going over again'.

We have a separate page about Ripasso.

Amarone doesn't come from a single wine house but from many producers in the region. The Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella says it represents more than 80 percent of the producers in the region. At ’t Bockje you will find Amarone wines from three family estates in the Valpolicella Classica:

• Tommasi from Pedemonte, founded in 1902: Tommasi Amarone Classico della Valpolicella DOCG and Tommasi Amarone Classico DOCG.
• Sartori from Negrar, since 1898: Sartori Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Reius and Sartori Amarone Corte Bra.
• Farina from Pedemonte di San Pietro in Cariano, started in the early twentieth century: Farina Amarone Classico della Valpolicella.

Would you like to know which Amarone suits your occasion best? Drop by at Brink 2 in Bathmen or call 0570 541 278.

The shop is at Brink 2 in Bathmen. Open Tuesday to Friday from 09.00 to 18.00 and Saturday from 09.00 to 17.00. For advice, call 0570 541 278 or email info@bockje.nl.