Valpolicella is strengthening its commitment to environmental sustainability and unveiling a 2021 Amarone that is balanced, typical and elegant. This is the key message emerging from Amarone Opera Prima 2026, the annual preview dedicated to the region’s new vintages, held over the weekend at Verona’s Gallerie Mercatali.
Valpolicella vineyards: 53% of the surface is sustainable
According to the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella, certified sustainable practices surpassed the majority threshold for the first time in 2025, reaching 53% of the denomination’s total vineyard area, up from 42% in 2024. The increase amounts to roughly one thousand additional hectares in just a single year.
This result is largely driven by the growing adoption of the Ministry’s Sqnpi certification (Sistema di qualità nazionale di produzione integrata), which covers both agronomic management and winery practices.
Consortium data show that certified agro‑environmental protection now extends across 4,666 hectares out of the denomination’s roughly 8,600 hectares of vineyards. Of these, 1,100 hectares are organic – down 9% – while nearly 3,500 hectares are certified with the Ministry’s sustainability label.
“In an increasingly competitive landscape, Valpolicella is strongly focusing on sustainability,” says Christian Marchesini, president of Consorzio Valpolicella. “It is a green asset for our territory, but also a market lever in several demand areas, from Northern Europe to North America, where it is seen as an added value. The voluntary Sqnpi certification has found breeding ground among our producers, growing by 47% in 2025 alone and by 110% over the past three years.”
The market: challenging 2025, but signs of recovery
On the economic side, Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella reports a challenging 2025, though partly offset by a recovery in the final quarter of the year. Bottled wine volumes show a smaller-than-expected decline: Amarone at –2.4% (around 102,000 hectolitres), Valpolicella at –2.7% (123,800 hectolitres) and Ripasso at –3.7% (over 205,000 hectolitres).
As for exports, Veneto Dop reds up to 15% abv – a segment in which Valpolicella accounts for nearly the entire share – posted a –2.1% drop in value and a +0.4% rise in volume in the first ten months of 2025. This decline is three times smaller than the national average for red wines (–6.2%). The second half of the year was weighed down by the U.S. tariff and downturns in markets such as Switzerland (–9.8%), Denmark (–3.7%) and Norway (–6.5%), while Canada (+4.8%), Germany (+5.1%), Sweden (+4.7%), the United Kingdom (+8.9%) and the Netherlands (+12%) all performed positively.
Amarone 2021: balance and elegance for the new thousandth
At Amarone Opera Prima, the new 2021 vintage was officially unveiled, described by the Consorzio’s tasting panel as “balanced, true to type and elegant.”
Its sensory profile highlights a full integration of gustatory and retro-olfactory components, an equilibrium shaped by careful management of the drying process and the finesse of ageing, along with an elegant structure offering strong ageing potential.
The 2021 growing season was defined as climatically challenging, marked first by spring frosts and later by drought and summer heat.
Despite this, vineyard resilience and growers’ expertise made it possible to harvest healthy, well‑balanced, high‑quality grapes. The vintage benefited from a slow drying phase in the fruttaio, supported by a cooler‑than‑average autumn, which allowed excellent sugar and polyphenolic concentration and the development of aromatic precursors – setting the stage for a slow, refined evolution in the cellar.
