2017 Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Veneto 750 ml

In the castle-dotted hills of Valpolicella, Amarone is king. Intense, aromatic, and ageworthy, it’s a wine that collectors love to contemplate. And Zenato—a long-time critic-favorite—produces some of the region’s most enticing bottles.

The winery’s 2017 highlights exactly what makes Amarone so distinctive. It shows power and poise in perfect tandem, like Hakeem Olajuwon lowering his shoulder before showing off some nimble footwork in the post. Strawberry, violet, and exotic-spice aromas lead into a powerful palate plush with cherry liquor, cassis, Mexican chocolate, licorice, and candied ginger.

This bottle left the judges at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards mesmerized, and they awarded it 96 points, making it one of the highest-scoring Amarones of the competition.

Zenato has been delivering this kind of excellence since 1960, when Sergio Zenato began making wine from vineyards around Lake Garda. He later expanded to the Valpolicella commune of Sant’Ambrogio, where the Zenato team now farms this Amarone’s Corvina, Rondinella, Oseleta, and Croatina on the region’s rolling hills. 

Amarone uses a unique winemaking process that results in intense, concentrated reds with an inimitable potpourri of flavors. Unlike most wines, the grapes don’t go straight from the fields to the cellar. Instead, they’re painstakingly dried, bunch by bunch, over three months. As their water content evaporates, simple red-berry fruits transform into intricate aromas and flavors. Fermentation takes an entire month, allowing incredible depth to develop alongside an abundantly rich texture.

You can pop the cork on this 2017 Zenato right now and revel in its dynamism and nuance, or cellar it for up to 15 years and discover just how much complexity Amarone has to offer.