Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG

Grapes are dried on racks for three to four months before a slow winter fermentation, which gives a dry red of 15 to 17 percent alcohol with the density of a dessert wine and none of the sugar. Expect black cherry, dried fig, cocoa, balsamic and tobacco, with a glycerol richness on the palate and tannins that are soft in the modern style or grippy in traditional bottlings. Producers split sharply: Quintarelli, Bertani and Dal Forno make wines that age for decades, while the big Verona houses make plush, ready versions. It's the Veneto's most important red and the one that funds everything else in Valpolicella.