Valpolicella & Amarone Wine Tours from Verona
Valpolicella is the hill country behind Verona where Amarone is made from grapes dried for months on racks, and a wine tour here is a half day of cellars, drying lofts and big glasses, from Verona or as a long day from Venice. Compare the top-rated tours below, then read our notes on the wines.
Amarone and Valpolicella tours from Verona
Wine tastings in Verona
Formats: half-day Amarone tours from Verona with transport, two wineries and tastings; Valpolicella vineyard visits with lunch; in-town wine tastings in Verona with a view; full days from Venice combining Verona and Amarone; Soave tastings.
What you taste: Valpolicella Classico, Ripasso, Amarone and the sweet Recioto, plus Soave from the volcanic hills to the east, with cheese, salumi and often lunch.
Price and time: 70 to 125 dollars for a half day from Verona; 40 to 55 for an in-town tasting; 150 and up for a full day from Venice.
The wines
Valpolicella’s grapes are Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella. Picked in September, the best bunches go to lofts to dry, the appassimento, for roughly three to four months until December, losing water and concentrating sugar; fermented dry they make Amarone, a DOCG since 2010, aged at least two years, four for a Riserva; fermented sweet they make Recioto. Ripasso is Valpolicella refermented on the Amarone pomace, which gives it some of the weight at half the price. Soave, the white from Garganega grown on volcanic soils half an hour east, is the region’s other classic.
The tours
From Verona, half-day tours with a minivan visit two family wineries in the Classico zone around Fumane, Negrar and San Pietro in Cariano, with the drying lofts, the cellars and a tasting of four to six wines each, sometimes with lunch. Groups of eight or fewer are standard. Tastings in Verona itself, on a terrace above the city, are the short version. From Venice, full days pair a Verona walk with a Valpolicella winery and run ten hours; Verona is about an hour from Venice by fast train, so a night there is the better plan. See Verona food tours and classes.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Valpolicella, Ripasso and Amarone?
Same grapes, increasing concentration: Valpolicella is fresh and light, Ripasso is refermented on Amarone skins, Amarone is made entirely from dried grapes and is the big one.
Can I do Valpolicella from Venice in a day?
Yes, with a long day and a tour that includes Verona; better with a night in Verona.
When is the appassimento visible?
From harvest to December the drying lofts are full; a tour in October or November shows the process at its most impressive.
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.