What Is Amarone? Grapes, Drying and the Rules Behind the Wine

Which grapes go into Amarone?

The disciplinare fixes the same blend for every bottle of Amarone della Valpolicella. Corvina Veronese (also called Cruina or Corvina) and Corvinone, alone or together, make up 45% to 95% of the vineyard. Rondinella makes up 5% to 30%. Up to 25% may come from other red varieties: non-aromatic red grapes authorised in the province of Verona may reach 15%, with no more than 10% for any single variety, and red grapes classed as native Italian varieties may fill the remaining 10%.

The vineyards must have reached at least their fourth growing season before their grapes can become Amarone, and vines are trained only on espalier or on the inclined Veronese pergola. The maximum yield is 12 tonnes of grapes per hectare, and the grapes must reach at least 11% natural alcohol at harvest.

What the vineyard actually holds is slightly different from the legal range. The producers' consortium reports that 97% of the area's vines are native varieties: 56% Corvina, 19% Rondinella, 18% Corvinone and 4% other varieties (Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini Valpolicella, 2026). Valpolicella, Ripasso and Recioto follow the same grape rules, so what sets the four wines apart is how they are made; our page on the differences between Amarone, Ripasso, Recioto and Valpolicella compares them.

How does appassimento work?

Appassimento is the drying of whole bunches after the harvest. The disciplinare requires the grapes to be selected in the vineyard, following traditional practice, and caps the share set aside to dry at 65% of the maximum output per hectare. The remaining grapes may go to Valpolicella and Valpolicella Ripasso.

Drying must happen in suitable rooms inside the production area. Climate-control equipment is allowed only if it works at temperatures similar to those of the traditional process, and any dehumidifying system that uses heat is excluded. After drying, the grapes must deliver a minimum natural alcoholic strength of 14% vol, and the maximum yield of grapes into finished wine is 40%.

The technical report attached to the rules describes the practice behind those limits. Grapes are picked between the last ten days of September and the first week of October, laid in a single layer in wooden or plastic crates or on bamboo racks so that air circulates, and placed in large lofts (fruttai) above the cellars. The report says they stay there 100 or 120 days, until they have lost at least half their weight, and that the bunches are checked every day so that damaged berries can be removed.

Why nothing is pressed before 1 December

The single date every Amarone producer works to is 1 December. The disciplinare states that grapes set out to dry for Amarone may not be made into wine before that day. The Regione del Veneto may authorise an earlier start when the weather makes it necessary, but only at the documented request of the producers' consortium.

The date gives a visitor a calendar. From the harvest in late September or early October until December, the lofts are full of drying grapes. From December the dried grapes are pressed and fermented. For the rest of the year a visit centres on the cellar where the wine is ageing.

The rules also fix where each step happens. Drying, winemaking and ageing must take place inside the production area, with exceptions for cellars in the whole territory of the listed comuni and for older ministerial authorisations within the province of Verona. Bottling must happen in the same zones as drying, winemaking and ageing. Amarone may be sold only in glass bottles of up to 15 litres, closed with a cork stopper; a screw cap is allowed only on bottles of up to 0.250 litres.

How long Amarone must age, and what is in the glass

Before it can be sold, Amarone must age for at least two years counted from 1 January after the harvest. A wine labelled Riserva needs at least four years, counted from 1 November of the harvest year. The rules do not require wood in the ageing article itself; the technical report describes a minimum of two years in wooden containers, then bottling and a further period in the bottle before sale.

When it reaches the market, the wine must have at least 14% vol of actual alcohol. Residual sugar is capped at 9 g/l at 14% vol, with 0.1 g/l more allowed for every 0.10% vol above 14% up to 16%, and 0.15 g/l more for every 0.10% vol above 16%. Total acidity must be at least 5.0 g/l and the non-reducing extract at least 28.0 g/l, or 32.0 g/l for the Riserva. The vintage must appear on every label.

The official description of the wine is a deep red that can turn towards garnet with age, with a pronounced, characteristic nose and a full, velvety, warm taste. The consortium suggests it with meat, game, braised dishes and aged cheeses (Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini Valpolicella, 2026).

Where Amarone comes from: Classico, Valpantena and the rest

The production area covers all or part of 19 comuni in the province of Verona: Marano, Fumane, Negrar, Sant'Ambrogio, San Pietro in Cariano, Dolcè, Verona, San Martino Buon Albergo, Lavagno, Mezzane, Tregnago, Illasi, Colognola ai Colli, Cazzano di Tramigna, Grezzana, Pescantina, Cerro Veronese, San Mauro di Saline and Montecchia di Crosara. The rules describe the zone as the whole foothill band of the province, from Lake Garda almost to the border with the province of Vicenza.

Two names on a label point to smaller parts of it. Classico is reserved for grapes from the comuni of Negrar, Marano, Fumane, Sant'Ambrogio and San Pietro in Cariano, the historic core north-west of Verona. Valpantena is the valley of that name, with its own perimeter. For both, drying and winemaking must take place inside the named zone. The consortium calls the remaining part the DOC Valpolicella zone, which takes in districts of the comune of Verona and the Illasi, Tramigna and Mezzane valleys.

The five Classico villages are the ones most visitors reach from Verona; our page on the Valpolicella Classico villages covers what to see in each.

Where the name and the rules come from

The historical section of the disciplinare traces a dried-grape wine in Valpolicella back to a letter by Cassiodorus, minister to King Theodoric, asking for a wine called Acinatico, described as winter must and cold blood of the grapes. It records that Scipione Maffei proposed the word amaro for a wine of particular grace made in Valpolicella, that the first bottles of Amarone appeared without labels in the early twentieth century for family use, and that the first commercial bottle of Amarone della Valpolicella dates from 1953.

Amarone was first recognised as a type of the Valpolicella denomination in 1968. On 24 March 2010 ministerial decrees made Valpolicella, Valpolicella Ripasso, Recioto della Valpolicella and Amarone della Valpolicella four separate denominations, with Amarone a DOCG. The current text was last amended by ministerial decree on 3 August 2023.

The consortium, founded in 1925, counted 59 million bottles of Valpolicella wines in 2024, of which 23% were Amarone and Recioto together. It reports 8,621 hectares of vineyard and 2,178 growers. Each vintage since 1991 has an official report from the consortium, summarised in our page on Amarone vintages.

How to see Amarone being made

Wineries in Valpolicella are visited by booking with the estate. The consortium publishes a list of 278 member wineries with their addresses and websites, and the Strada del Vino Valpolicella, the local wine road association, lists 94 member wineries. Neither publishes visiting hours or tasting prices, so you arrange the visit, and its price, with the winery itself.

To see appassimento, book between October and the end of the year, when the drying lofts are in use; from December you may also see the dried grapes pressed. In the rest of the year the visit is about the barrel cellar and a tasting. If you would rather not drive between estates, a guided tour from Verona with transport is the simplest option, and the tour box on this page lists tours you can book online. Our guide to Valpolicella wine tours from Verona explains both routes, and the page on getting to Valpolicella from Verona covers the train, bus and taxi options.