Greetings from Verona, the heart of the Veneto region of Italy.

I am here to taste the new vintage of Amarones (2010).

For those of you not aware of what Amarone is here’s a brief description: It’s a wine made from naturally dehydrated grapes (done over a 90 day period) giving the wine a depth and richness one would not get with fresh fruit.

For those of you who know, Amarone can be a hedonistic pleasure with all its rich fruit flavours.

2010 marks the first time Amarone gets DOCG status, and that’s a big deal because it is the highest level of quality a wine can attain on the Italian wine scale … and it seems surprising that this iconic wine had to wait this long to get it.

As for the 2010 vintage, late budding led to a late harvest, but high temps in June and July and heavy rains in August have given wines that are crisper and fresher with higher than normal acidity.

Here are my top three 2010 Amarones (available soon – no prices given yet) from the tasting … search them out and you won’t be disappointed:

Ca’ Rugate 2010 Amarone della Valpolicella

Nice white pepper, cocoa and blackberry on the nose; palate shows upfront dark fruit with good spice and pepper. Quite elegant.

Massimago 2010 Amarone della Valpolicella

Black cherry and cocoa lead things off, there’s also nice pepper and a long pleasant finish; good structure from start to finish.

Corte Archi 2010 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

The nose comes off as sweet with plenty of plum, cherry, blackberry and chocolate; palate has that sweetness of fruit but ends dry, rich and full; easy to drink.

For more wine suggestions, see our other #WineWednesday posts.