Bertani
Most Amarone is built to flatter you tonight. Bertani makes you wait — a long-aged, savoury Amarone della Valpolicella Classico released years after everyone else's, with a library of old vintages behind it. Here's the house style, the bottle to chase, the one to actually drink, and how you get in.
Most Amarone wants to impress you tonight. Bertani makes you wait — and that's the whole point.
Walk into the Amarone aisle and nearly everything on the shelf is young, dark and built to flatter: high alcohol, sweet fruit, a gloss of new oak. Bertani goes the other way. Its Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is released years after the vintage, held back in big old oak while everyone else has already cashed in, and behind those releases sits a library of far older bottles that the house keeps and sells when they're ready. In the hills above Verona in Veneto, where the temptation to make bigger, richer, faster wine has reshaped a whole region, Bertani has stayed stubbornly classical. This is the house that treats Amarone as a keeping wine, not a trophy.
The long-ageing bet
Amarone is already an extreme wine before anyone ages it. You pick the local grapes, then dry them on racks for months — the appassimento method — until they shrivel and their sugars concentrate, and only then do you ferment. The result is powerful by design. Most producers take that concentration and go for impact: young, ripe, immediate.
Bertani took the opposite view a long time ago. Concentrate the grapes, yes — then age the wine slowly in large old Slavonian oak botti, which lend time and air without stamping the wine with vanilla and spice. Hold it back further before release. And keep a reserve of old vintages so that a properly mature classical Amarone is something you can actually buy, not just read about. In a region that spent decades chasing power, Bertani kept chasing longevity.
The rarest thing a wine house can sell you isn't a great vintage. It's a great vintage that's already old enough to drink.
The wines
Short, coherent range, and it rewards knowing which door to walk through.
Secco-Bertani is where locals and the trade often start, and it's the one most travellers miss. A historic everyday red from the Valpolicella hills — savoury, structured, dried-cherry and herb, with real backbone for the price bracket — it's the house style in weekday form. If you want to understand Bertani without opening a cellar, this is the honest, insider way in.
The Valpolicella Ripasso is the earlier-drinking step up: refermented on the leftover Amarone skins so it borrows some of that depth and weight, richer than basic Valpolicella, ready far sooner than the Amarone and built to go straight to the table. This is the one to actually drink while the serious bottles sleep.
The Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is the flagship and the reason the name matters. Led by Corvina with Rondinella, dried and slow-aged, it's drier and more restrained than the modern Amarone template — dried fig and cherry, sweet spice, tobacco and a savoury, almost balsamic edge, all carried on tannin and acid rather than sugar. It arrives already older than most rivals and keeps climbing for years. And when you can find one of Bertani's library vintages — a mature Amarone sold at maturity — buy it. That's the estate at full stretch, and almost nobody else offers it.
The setting
The heart of it is the estate in the Valpolicella hills north of Verona, a historic villa and cellars where the appassimento lofts and the long lines of old oak botti do the patient work. This is the classical corner of the zone — cooler, higher ground where the grapes hold their acidity and perfume through the drying and the long ageing, which is exactly what lets these wines run for decades instead of years. It reads as a working estate that measures time in generations, not seasons: quiet, old, more interested in the vintage waiting in the cellar than the one on the shelf.
Visiting
Book ahead, and treat the estate visit as a proper stop rather than a drive-by. Bertani hosts guided tours through its Valpolicella property and ageing cellars, usually finished with a seated tasting that walks up through the range — and, when the cellar allows, an older vintage that shows you what all the patience is for. This is a working estate, so arrange it in advance through the house's own site rather than turning up, and confirm the current format before you plan the day.
It also folds neatly into a wider trip: Valpolicella sits a short run from Verona and the vineyards of Soave and Lake Garda, an easy loop for a couple of days of tasting.
What to buy
Match the bottle to your patience. For everyday drinking with real character, Secco-Bertani is the smart, low-fuss pick — the house savour in weekday form. Want something richer for the table now? The Valpolicella Ripasso delivers depth without the wait. But if you're buying to understand why this house matters, reach for the Amarone della Valpolicella Classico — and if you ever see a genuinely mature library vintage for sale, don't hesitate. A great old Amarone you can actually buy at maturity is the rarest thing Valpolicella offers, and this is the house that makes it.
Common questions
Amarone that ages — and patience almost nobody else has the nerve for. Bertani built its name on a long-aged, savoury Amarone della Valpolicella Classico held back for years in big old oak before release, then held back further as library stock. While much of the region chased richer, sweeter, oakier styles, Bertani kept making a drier, more classical Amarone meant to run for decades. It's the reference for the traditional style, and one of the few houses that will sell you a genuinely mature bottle rather than a young one.
The traditional Valpolicella blend, led by Corvina with Rondinella — the local red grapes, dried on racks for months after harvest until they shrivel and concentrate (the appassimento method that defines Amarone). Bertani's version leans classical: less bombast, more perfume and savour, built around fine tannin and acidity rather than sweetness and alcohol. Confirm the exact current blend on the estate's own material before quoting proportions.
Yes — the estate hosts guided visits and tastings at its historic Valpolicella property, but arrange it ahead rather than turning up. This is a working cellar and villa, not a walk-in bar: visits are booked tours through the estate and its ageing cellars, usually with a seated tasting that steps up through the range and, when available, an older vintage. Book through the estate's own site and confirm the current format before you build a day around it.
If you can find a mature vintage from Bertani's own library, that's the whole reason to buy the house — a properly aged classical Amarone is a rare thing to be able to buy at all. The current-release Amarone Classico is already older than most of its rivals and will keep improving for years. For everyday drinking, Secco-Bertani and the Valpolicella Ripasso give you the house savour without the wait or the cellar.
Glossary
- Amarone della Valpolicella
- A powerful dry red from the Valpolicella hills near Verona, made from local grapes (chiefly Corvina and Rondinella) dried for months after harvest before fermentation. Elevated to DOCG in 2010. Bertani is a benchmark for the long-aged, classical style.
- Appassimento
- The drying of freshly picked grapes on racks or in shallow crates for weeks or months, concentrating sugar and flavour before fermentation — the technique behind Amarone and the sweet Recioto.
- Ripasso
- 'Re-passed' — a Valpolicella wine refermented on the leftover Amarone skins and lees, borrowing some of that depth and structure. A richer step up from basic Valpolicella and an easier, earlier-drinking cousin of Amarone.