Ribs (not spicy though)! or a simple braise. My favorite is just cheese, good aged hard cheeses or gorgonzola. Risotto is classic and a great foundation for a good Amarone to pair with too.
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Every time I drink a young Amarone, I ask myself why I did. Every time I drink an old Amarone, I ask myself why I’m not buying more. I really don’t have enough experience to make recommendations other than that.
Terrific
Looking forward!
Pairing works with any steak.
Brisket,veal chop and short rib all are excellent.
If you checked the menu for the Quintarelli tasting you can see the Winewatch pairings.
Andrew and Toni are both amazing.
Start with their recommendations and take it from there.
Yes that’s definitely the case with opening a younger one. I’ve had them at least 10-20 years old for the valpolicella and the amarone and have had a much better experience.
One of my favorite pairings for Amarone is with any sort of larger game - wild boar, elk, venison, etc.
Michael
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I’ll agree with you on aging. I think they taste great right out of the gate, like young Port does, but then slump a few years after vintage and probably peak around 8 years after vintage. Not a fan of aged Amarone, as I feel they fall apart and simply taste like old, alcoholic wines without much character.
I really enjoy Amarone. They are either very well balanced and exactly what I’m looking for, or they are heavy, almost syrupy, prune juice. Haven’t had the opportunity to taste or buy a really high end Amarone. I usually stick to what I know I like…Tommasi, Allegrini,Accordini…
Osso Bucco is the classic pairing with Amarone.
My old Amarone collection I had when I lived in the UK, just arrived to CA. I’ll go more in-depth on it later when I unbox, but some nice Quintarelli, Dal Forno, Alighieri, Accordini/'Cordin, Corte Lenguin, Masi, Allegrini and Speri in there. Some really old stuff, like a 1971 Masi that I’m saving for my 50th.
I was heavy into them at the time (mid 2000’s) and you could order them on Italian Ebay and get them shipped directly to the UK (US legislators, take note). Great fun, but never knew the bottles provenance or how they’d been kept much. After I moved to the US my taste changed and I went into lighter reds and more natural styles, so kind of “forgot” about them. They sat in a friends closet for the better part of 15 years. Not ideal, and hoping it wasn’t too hot, but old drafty UK houses kinda rarely are. But slightly coming back to these more extracted styles of wines with my palate, I thought it was time to get them over here. So arranged for Seabrook to ship them over. Came yesterday.
Yes, in addition to any image (and understandably elevated prices), the high alcohol % can be a big challenge. It’s not as simple as looking at that figure though, as I’ve experienced spirity Amarone at 14.5 / 15%, yet bottles with a touch more alcohol, but they avoided that, presumably through the richness of the fruit. Alongside other wines of recent decades, typical alc% did rise in Amarone as well.
In addition to any risk of spirity heat, there is the more straightforward matter of higher alcohol wines falling out of favour through drink driving alc limits, plus the reduction in the number of meals where finishing with an Amarone (or port) happens. If a couple is used to sharing a 13.5% alc bottle in an evening, doing the same with a 17% alc Amarone may result in sore heads the following day.
I do like Amarone, but I have a sum total of 2 bottles in the cellar, both acquired from a holiday in the region 6 years ago. 2 bottles feels about right (by comparison I have 4 bottles of port). These will be very occasional wines, for very occasional occasions!
One unrelated footnote though. When I first started getting into wine, Amarone made a very positive early impression, because there was great intensity and substance abaout it. It can be a crowd pleaser.
Quintarelli and Dal Forno are the two benchmarks, and each represents the opposite side of the Amarone spectrum from ephemeral and nuanced to thickly concentrated and opulent. Within those two extremes, some interesting names are Buglioni, Musella, Roccolo Grassi, Tenuta Sant’Antonio, Valentina Cubi, Lorenzo Begali, David Sterza, Le Salette, Tedeschi and Marion (to name some of my personal favorites). The more commercially savvy names such as Allegrini, Cesari, Masi, Sartori, Speri and Zenato are also excellent, and because Amarone is a very technical wine that requires specially ventilated drying rooms for drying the fruit up to 120 days, the fruttaio, you can count on those producers to invest in the expensive technology for making quality Amarone. I’m writing up some Amarone notes now and made this little video on appassimento on my iPhone: Appassimento at Giuseppe Quintarelli - YouTube.
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What I never understood is how do they keep the pH in check? With the concentration and increase in Brix, doesn’t the pH also go through the roof? How do they stop them from going flabby? Acidification or picking very early?
Thank you for the interesting short video Monica. The "braids"are really cool!
Dear Adam,
Appassimento dehydrates the grapes to remove up to 35% of the water in the berries, increasing sugars as a result. If the appassimento is done through whole cluster dehydration in the fruttaio (the ventilated rooms where grapes dry from 90 to 120 days) like in the case of Amarone, the acidity change is minimal (the pH is already pretty low because harvest are not done “late,” they are scheduled to “normal” times). If the dehydration had happened on the vine, in the case of a late harvest wine, the pH will rise and acidity is lower.
For example, I just wrote up a few Amarone reviews from Masi today and because the grapes are naturally acidic, the average of the pHs I tasted ranged from 3.5 to 3.6. But those same grapes from Masi - making Valpolicella Classico from fresh grapes not Amarone from dehydrated grapes - had a pH of 3.3. This suggests that the grapes - Corvina, Corvinona, Rondinella, Oseleta and Molinara - are already acidic at that “normal” harvest time. Of course, malolactic fermentation will also shift the pH, causing it to rise slightly as well.
That’s the long and the short of it.
Best,
Monica
Thanks for great explanation, Monica! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
I recently was to Quintarelli for a wine tasting.
I’ve tried the Amarone Classico 2011 , I just loved it (like the Alzero 2011 and the Recioto).
I loved his cellar and his tasting room, there’s something magic in it.
Quntarelli and Dal Forno of course.
I recently had a gem : Amarone Bertani 1962 (the 2009 is a monster too).
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I really enjoyed a 2014 Tedeschi base amarone when I was in Venice. Surprisingly elegant, not that anyone would mistaken it for a light bodied wine. I’ve picked up a Tedeschi Monte Olmi Riserva, though I suspect I may have to wait much longer before it’ll be ready to drink
Palate.