Amarone

The way I remember it, I didn’t fall in love with Amarone wines until the very end of my time in Italy. For a few years afterwards if I wanted to treat myself, or perhaps try to impress someone else, I might seek some out. On the handful of occasions when I’ve tried Amarone in recent years, however, I haven’t enjoyed it in the same way I used to. The wines have been good, but haven’t provoked the same delight they formerly did. Is this down to my changing tastes, or is Amarone not what it used to be?

As I’ll have mentioned before, my preferences in general have shifted from intense and full-bodied red wines to easier-going medium-bodied ones. And it’s not like I’ve been sampling top-tier examples lately, trying out whichever ones end up at the local Lidl or Aldi (like the bottle in the picture, from which I had a couple of glasses last night). Meanwhile, the article on Amarone in The Oxford Companion to Wine informs me that over-production of the wine has been an issue, with the proportion of Valpolicella grapes made into Amarone having increated greatly between 1990 and 2005 (“the problem, however, remains one of quality, for there is too much poorly-made Amarone for sale”).