Pairings | Valpolicella

The best food pairings for amarone (new)

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on November 23 2024 at 08:42

Amarone or Amarone della Valpolicella is a full-bodied red wine from the Veneto region of Italy that gets its richness and slight sweetness from being partially fermented on the skins of dried grapes, a process referred to in Italian as appassimento.

Although styles vary it can reach alcohol levels as high as 16% which obviously dictates the style of food it pairs with best.

What food you enjoy with it depends a bit on your personal taste. If you appreciate its sweetness you’ll probably be happy drinking it with richly sauced meat dishes like ox cheek and beef shortribs, even a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey

If you find it a bit overwhelming with savoury dishes you might want to treat it more like port and drink it with cheese, especially blue cheese.

Some people enjoy it with dark chocolate but I personally don’t find it quite sweet enough for that. A Recioto della Valpolicella works better in my opinion.

But it does particularly lend itself to rich red wine sauces especially if they’re made with amarone.

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