Amarone della Valpolicella is one of the big Italian red wines. Amarone was born as a blend of three grape varietals indigenous to the Valpolicella area, Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara.
The grapes are hand-picked and carefully placed on trays, which are then put in the grape drying room - il "fruttaio" in Italia - where they undergo "appassimento" for 120-140 days.
The grapes are gently crushed and the highly concentrated must is collected and fermented. Unlike Recioto della Valpolicella, a dessert wine also made with the grape drying technique, Amarone is a dry wine.
Amarone is a full-bodied, structured, and complex wine, which needs at least 2 years of aging and can be made using big "botti" (Slavonian oak) or barrique (French Oak) depending on the winemaker's approach.
Traditionally, Amarone was aged in big "botti", a process resulting in rather dry wines - very far from the fruit-bombs that have become popular during the past 20 years.
Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG
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