To date, collectability has been limited to a handful of the most famous (and enterprising) cantine, two of which are included for the first time in this report: Quintarelli and Dal Forno, both of whom I visited during my February trip. Both are under the leadership of a new generation, who have largely continued the impressive legacy of their forebears. Marco Dal Forno, son of the pioneering modernist Romano, has the frenetic energy of a founder himself, excitedly describing the cutting-edge innovations coming to his space-age fruttaio (drying room), including more individualised sensors and environmental control mechanisms to ensure that conditions remain optimal at all times during appassimento. Construction was underway during our visit, the grapes long since shuttled away and pressed.

Quintarelli’s Francesco Grigoli is soft-spoken and thoughtful, carrying forward his grandfather Beppe’s traditional vision with subtle tweaks necessitated by changed natural conditions, for instance maintaining lower temperatures in the fruttaio to decelerate drying, now that appassimento starts in warm September conditions instead of cool October. There were still grape bunches in the Quintarelli fruttaio in early February, meticulously stored in small, unfinished wooden crates designed to naturally absorb juice that might lead to rot.

Illustrated by these two, the differences between the ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ camps in Valpolicella go beyond the typical barrique vs. botti divide, and are typically focused on appassimento. For all the concerns about appassimento – it can mask site specificity; many regions are now able to produce equally ripe wines at lower cost; the market for high alcohol wines is declining – the technique is deeply historical and largely synonymous with Amarone itself. Vanishingly few prominent producers seem interested in disavowing the region’s star wine altogether.

Many are tweaking the levers of appassimento, generally shortening it to around three months instead of four or more, like at Crosarola, Zýmē and Bertani. However, there are limitations to this approach, as revealed by Masi’s extensive research into appassimento that demonstrated the importance of at least three months’ withering in order to bring about key molecular changes. For every producer experimenting with shorter appassimento, there seems to be one who has instead decided to prolong it (Tenuta Sant’Antonio, Albino Armani, Terre di Leone).

Beyond the old modern/traditional dichotomy, there is the notion of a ‘New Wave,’ proposed by wine writer and motivational speaker Filippo Bartolotta at his Opera Wine masterclass and a phenomenon I also remarked on in last year’s report. This is a loosely-defined group of producers making slenderer, less bombastic versions of Amarone, mostly with lower alcohol, colour and residual sugar, a clear play for younger consumers who seem largely immune to the charms of their parents’ big, purple Amarone. Many of the producers are from outside the Classico zone, like biodynamics pioneer Corte Sant’Alda, Massimago or Contrada Palui. The latter’s eccentric, bone-dry Amarone is a field blend grown 550m above sea level, which only undergoes two-and-a-half months of appassimento. Because this group operates outside the Classico zone’s network of historical vineyards, there is obviously less emphasis on named crus but site-specificity (arguably more detectable in these lighter, more transparent wines) is a natural focus.

The whole region seems to have taken on some aspects of the ‘New Wave,’ at least its general aesthetic – the 2019s seemed sheerer and redder-fruited than the wines tasted in 2023 – and emphasis on site characteristics (Quintarelli, for instance, recently unveiled its new ‘Tre Terre’ bottling). In fact, given Bartolotta’s class also featured regional mainstays like Sartori, Pasqua, and even Bolla – one of the oldest known producers of Amarone – the ‘New Wave’ can hardly be considered a cohesive movement. The other cradle of Amarone, Bertani, though not included in Bartolotta’s seminar, has always leaned silkier and redder, efforts redoubled during Andrea Lonardi’s tenure as COO. However, since Lonardi has now left Bertani to start his own consultancy, also becoming CEO of the Marilisa Allegrini firm (after Lady Amarone herself left her family firm Allegrini) it remains to be seen what Bertani’s direction will be going forward.

Finally, there is the Famiglie Storiche, the group of family-owned producers (including key regional players Allegrini, Masi and Tommasi), who have largely shaped Amarone’s international image over the past 30+ years. Though there are clear stylistic distinctions between them, the overall lean towards a modern, clean-fruited style (some bolder, like Masi, and some more ethereal, like Musella) persists. The insistence from member Riccardo Tedeschi (of Tedeschi Wines) that ‘light Amarone’ is an almost laughable concept suggests dramatic change is not imminent.

The 2019 vintage, the centrepiece of this report and the subject of Opera Prima, is thus harder to describe cohesively than it might be in another region (Montalcino, for instance, as will be clear from our Brunello Report, coming out soon), not least because several of the wines presented were not yet released or were even unbottled barrel samples. Though it was a season of extremes – with a damp spring, the coldest for three decades, followed by drought in June and heatwaves in July and August – the wines have luckily been spared the palpable weariness of stressful vintages by fairly mild, typical conditions in August and September. Harvest ultimately occurred roughly a week later on average than in 2018 (though harvest dates vary greatly depending on the blend and producers’ stylistic aims) and most producers are sanguine about its quality. The many 2018s tasted (or re-tasted) felt rather plump and dense by contrast, while the handful of 2020s (obviously from a self-selecting group of producers happy with an earlier release) felt cleaner, brighter and tarter still. All the samples at Opera Prima (most of the 2019s) were tasted blind, as were those submitted for tasting at the Consorzio. Wines tasted during visits were, naturally, not tasted blind, and these have been identified in each individual entry.

In sum, though Amarone remains very heterogenous, there is undoubtedly change afoot. To refer back to the 2×2 matrix I developed in last year’s Report to describe the four styles of Amarone – with a red-to-purple axis and a fresh-to-oxidative one – there seems to be a decided tilt towards red and fresh and away from purple and oxidative, but the rest of the grid remains well populated. For a region of this size with this many ambitious producers, this may be as close as we get to a clear movement.