Risotto all'Amarone: Taste It, Then Cook It

About this experience

Risotto all'Amarone is the one dish every Veronese kitchen is judged on, and it is the rare recipe where the wine is not the accompaniment but the ingredient. That is why this day runs in the order it does.

The morning is in the Valpolicella, in a family cellar with your guide and sommelier. You taste through the range and you see the fruttaio — the drying loft where the grapes lose forty per cent of their weight over three or four months before they are ever pressed. By the time you understand why an Amarone costs what it costs, you also understand why you only need a little of it in the pan.

In the afternoon, a partner kitchen in Verona. Risotto is a technique rather than a recipe: the toasting of the rice, the order the liquid goes in, the moment the wine is added, and the mantecatura at the end that decides whether it is a good risotto or a wet one. You cook it yourself, with the chef at your shoulder, and the sommelier explains what the Amarone is doing to it as it goes.

Then you eat it, with a glass of Amarone alongside. It is a simple-looking plate that takes most people a trip to Italy to properly understand — and one of the few you can genuinely take home and repeat.

What's included

• Guide and sommelier at your disposal for the day
• Valpolicella winery visit with a guided Amarone tasting
• Hands-on Risotto all'Amarone class at a partner kitchen in Verona
• The risotto you cooked, served with a selected Amarone

Frequently asked questions