Masi Makes Amarone for the Past, Present, and Future

Like everything, wines go in and out of style. Through much of the 1800s, fortified wines such as port, sherry, and madeira occupied the tables of in-the-know gourmands. At the fin de siècle, increasingly accessible champagne took over. Later in the 20th century, the still wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy garnered widespread praise before ceding some market share to pioneers in places such as Australia’s Barossa Valley and California’s Napa Valley. In the 1990s, few wines boomed quite as powerfully as amarone, the red wine from Italy’s Veneto region made using the appassimento method, in which grapes are dried on large wooden racks for months before fermentation. The resulting wines are big, soft, and high in alcohol—attributes that were popular throughout the hedonistic 1990s but less so today.

According to Raffaele Boscaini, marketing director and coordinator of the technical group at Masi, the family winery of which he is a part of the seventh generation to oversee, amarone may not appeal to every type of drinker, but for those who are attracted to its suave, voluptuous character, there is no replacement. “Amarone is like a steak,” he says. “If I am a vegetarian, of course I don’t eat steak.” It’s a fitting analogy: amarone, with its deep, purplish-red colour can run sanguine, and a popular pairing for it is red meat, particularly braised. However, as with vegetarianism’s rise in popularity, consumer preference in the world of wine has swung to lighter, fruit-forward reds, so leading amarone producers such as Masi are diversifying their products in order to capture a younger demographic.

Luckily, the spirit of experimentation is built into Masi’s DNA. Since its founding in 1772, when the first generation of Boscaini winemakers purchased vineyards in the Vaio dei Masi valley in the heart of Valpolicella Classica, Masi has built its reputation by crafting wines informed by local traditions (including the appassimento method) and perfected via innovative or iconoclastic techniques. Case in point: Campofiorin, Masi’s Rosso del Veronese IGT wine that set the industry on fire when it launched in 1964, as it was the first widely available wine made via the ripasso method, in which young wines are fermented for a second time on the pomace from amarone production to increase body, alcohol, and aromatic complexity.

Nowadays, Masi has done away with the amarone pomace and referments Campofiorin on semi-dried grapes of the same kind as those used to make the wine: the indigenous corvina, rondinella, and molinara varieties. Following the introduction of new packaging in 2020, Campofiorin feels as of-the-moment today is it did in 1964. The current release from the 2022 vintage, like its predecessors, falls somewhere between the richness of amarone and ethereality of generic veneto rosso. Combining fresh red and black fruits with their cooked counterparts, and overlaid with a light dusting of Christmas spice, its fusion of approachability and complexity continue to justify the headlines the wine made when it was launched.

Because of its elongated production schedule, amarone is particularly susceptible to climate change, and Masi has once again found itself at the fore of change in the industry as it adapts this ancient style of wine for the future. Traditional techniques—such as the pergola system on which the vines are trained that “allows less temperature around the grapes and even shadows the grapes,” according to Boscaini—have safeguarded the jewel of Valpolicella against even higher alcohol levels than are already common, but other parts of the process have felt the pressure of our changing climate. In the winery in particular, amarone is being reshaped by our warmer world—but, as is sometimes the case, it’s for the better. “The appassimento starts quite early,” Boscaini says. “I have to say, it’s better conditions since it’s not yet fall; it’s not yet humid. So the drying of the grapes comes in a safer way, and most of the time it takes less time.”

The resulting wines, Masi’s Costasera Amarone Classico and Riserva Costasera Amarone Classico, remain true amarones, hearty steaks but with the elegance of filet mignon. The 2020 vintage of the flagship Costasera defies the above-average heat Veneto experienced during the summer, layering vibrant cherry and citrus flavours atop the typical stewed plum and cocoa qualities. Unique to the Riserva Costasera is the addition of the exceedingly rare oseleta grape, a richly coloured tannic grape that, when deployed carefully, can add structure that will allow the wine to age for extended periods. “This variety brings to our amarone what I call a sort of very firm backbone that makes the wine seem drier,” Boscaini says.

According to Boscaini, Masi is “always trying to be contemporary with wine, including amarone.” And with the latest vintages of its Costasera and Riserva Costasera amarones, it has done just that. Similarly, Masi is on the bleeding edge of wine tourism in Italy, where the tours and tasting rooms have long lagged behind their New World counterparts. In September 2025, Masi inaugurated Monteleone21, its new home in Valpolicella whose striking, boomerang-shaped façade introduces yet more modern innovation directly into the ancient family vineyards that surround it.

At just over 250 years old, Masi is as fashionable as ever. And its amarone? Bewitching.

Three Masi Wines to Try:

Campofiorin Rosso del Veronese 2022

Costasera Amarone Classico 2020

Masi Costasera Riserva Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2018

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