Amarone della Valpolicella: greener vineyards, more and more young people managing companies

Amarone della Valpolicella is about to reach its first 100 years, while the path it is following for the future sees more and more young people managing wineries, and more sustainable vineyards. The first bottle of the main wine of Valpolicella was produced in 1936 at the Valpolicella Negrar Wine Cooperative, but now a generational revolution is in progress. There are more and more “under 40s” managing wineries in the area. According to studies that the Consortium for the Protection of Valpolicella Wines has carried out, based on data from the AVEPA (Venetian payment agency) Regional Agency, over the past 10 years growth has been almost 100%, and there are now at least 350 young people heading wineries. The young trend reflects a new vitality in an area that reaches 500 million euros in wine sales value every year, almost half of which related to the global Amarone business. “It is no coincidence”, Christian Marchesini, president of the Consortium, said, “that the extraordinary growth of young companies is going hand in hand with the green transition of our wines, which is another strategic aspect that the younger generations are embracing with greater conviction. This is precisely the reason that at the end of last year we created the first youth group of an Italian wine Consortium. It is right that the almost 350 under 40 companies in Valpolicella have the opportunity to make their voices heard, and above all, team up to improve our economy”. Valpolicella is undergoing a “green facelift”, and AVEPA Regional Agency data revealed that organic or SQNPI certified companies (National Quality System of Integrated Production), jumped from 3% to 33%. There are now 2.873 hectares of green vineyards (out of a total 8.586) compared to 212 in 2012. The Consortium also noted that in 2022, the numbers of the total bottled volume exceeded an equivalent of 67.2 million bottles (0.75/liter). Amarone alone counted 17.2 million bottles, almost 7% more than the average over the past 5 years. These are exceptional numbers for a territory that is now firmly one of the most prestigious in Italy, and which also aims to have “the traditional technique of setting grapes aside to become Amarone”, or, in other words, the drying process recognized as a UNESCO heritage site. This will be one of the main topics at “Amarone Opera Prima” (Verona, February 4-5th).