Complementary recipes:

• Seared Beef Sirloin with Arugula and Aged Balsamic
• More recipes...

More pairings:

beef daube, blueberries: chocolate covered, cake: chocolate, casseroles & stews, casseroles: full flavored meaty, cheesecake: chocolate, chocolate decadence, chocolate Mexican Mole, chocolate: bittersweet, chocolate: dark, fajitas, gorgonzola, gorgonzola & cambozola, Gorgonzola Dolce, Gorgonzola Piccante, lamb chops,grilled, lamb: leg, lamb: rack with rosemary, lasagna, Mexican Mole, mud pie: chocolate, parmesan, parmigiano, pasta with tomato sauce, pizza: blue cheese & buffalo chicken, polenta dishes, sausages, sex in a pan, veal stuffed with sausage, venison, venison stew. More pairings...

Amarone

Amarone della Valpolicella, which roughly translates to strongly bitter, describes this robust, rich red wine made in Valpolicella, in the northeast region of Italy called Veneto. The best and ripest of the dark-skinned grapes of Corvina, Molinara and Rondinella are carefully selected during harvest and gently stored for several months after harvest in cool, well-ventilated rooms so that they dry and concentrate their sugars and flavors. When they're almost raisins, they're crushed and fermented to create Amarone wine.

These concentrated sugars ferment to complete dryness, which creates a wine with high alcohol (often 14%-16%), black fruit flavors and a rich, dark color. Recioto wines from Valpolicella are also made this way, except that fermentation is stopped while there is still some residual sugar left in the wine, creating a rich dessert wine. Ripasso wines from this region are "re-passed" or re-fermented and have some of Amarone's rich character.

Due to the selection of the best grapes and the involved winemaking method, Amarone tends to be a pricey wine, usually more than $30 a bottle. Signature aromas include black cherries, kirsch, raisins, plum, prunes, spice, coffee, cocoa and mocha.

Drink Amarone with rich, flavorful foods such as cheddar, parmesan, blue cheeses, polenta dishes, sausage, lasagna, venison, beef daube, casseroles, stews, Mexican Mole, leg of lamb, pasta with tomato sauce and dark chocolate.