Amarone: Panel tasting results

Michael Garner, Sara Bachiorri and Richard Baudains tasted 88 wines, with 3 Outstanding and 38 Highly Recommended.

Amarone: Panel tasting scores

88 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 3

Highly recommended 38

Recommended 36

Commended 9

Fair 2

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest-release vintage wines classified as Amarone della Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, or Amarone della Valpolicella Valpantena

Amarone has a clearly established identity as a round, full, soft and deeply coloured red, high in alcohol with a sensation of sweetness. Nonetheless, across the 88 wines on show, the panel found plenty of variables in terms of style and quality.

One of the most notable was just how much vintage matters. This tasting covered 10 different years: 2019 and 2018 accounted for almost 40% of the entries, with fewer from 2021 (six wines), 2020 (eight), 2017 (seven), 2016 (10), 2015 (seven), 2013 (three), and one wine each from 2011 and 2007.

Both 2019, a promising vintage that combines richness and freshness, and 2018 – more difficult, but with good levels of acidity – fared well, as, on the whole, did the highly touted 2016s and 2015s.

Scroll down to see the top results from the Amarone panel tasting

Maturity over youth

However, only three wines from 2020 and two from 2017 achieved Highly Recommended scores, with those from the latter just making it in at the lower end.

The three examples from the now fully mature though less widely acclaimed 2013 vintage garnered Outstanding, Highly recommended and Recommended scores, and the two older wines also received very respectable scores (2011 91pts and 2007 92pts); though completely ready, they all still had plenty to offer.

Unfortunately, the much-heralded 2021 vintage didn’t impress greatly at this early stage, and Richard Baudains warned that younger versions of Amarone with 14.5% or 15% alcohol can overlap stylistically with Ripasso and Valpolicella Superiore wines.

Provenance is another key factor. Nearly half of the entries came from the Classico area, just three from the relatively tiny Valpantena valley, and the rest from the easterly Orientale area. The Classico wines were the highest achievers, and the finest examples – with their broader spectrum of aromas and flavours – offer greater nuance.

Two of the three wines from Valpantena (typically slightly lighter but balanced wines) gained Highly recommended scores, while the Orientale wines (generally more renowned for their fuller, robust style) were more of a mixed bag on the day.

See all the wines from the Amarone panel tasting

A balancing act

The other major consideration is the role of alcohol and sugar levels. Excessive alcohol can be an issue – hardly surprising at up to 17% abv.

But as Sara Bachiorri noted: ‘We had wines at 15% where the alcohol was out of balance and felt higher than that, while others, perhaps at levels as much as 16.5%, felt perfectly balanced.’

Residual sugar levels are perhaps an even more contentious issue. The current trend to make a drier style of Amarone with as little as a couple of grams per litre of sugar aims to take the wine in a new direction, away from its traditional use as a vino da meditazione and towards a more versatile and food-friendly product.

However, the judges also found a number of entries in which sugar levels were questionably high.

Overall, while standards were encouraging, Baudains was left wanting more: ‘Amarone is a special wine. When it is less special and simply good, it is less Amarone.’

Amarone panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Michael Garner is co-owner of Italian specialist Tria Wines and DWWA Regional Chair for Northern Italy. He is author of Amarone and the Fine Wines of Verona (£35 Académie du Vin Library, 2017)

Sara Bachiorri is in the buying team at merchant WoodWinters. A DWWA judge for Northern Italy, she was formerly head sommelier at The Glasshouse in Kew then Chez Bruce in London, followed by a stint at Italian specialist merchant FortyFive10°

Richard Baudains is the DWWA Regional Chair for Veneto and a regular contributor to Decanter. He lives in northeast Italy, is on the Slow Wine Guide team for Friuli Venezia Giulia, and is a university wine journalism teacher

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