AMARONE OPERA PRIMA VERONA 4 - 5 FEBRUARY 2023

A parade of 64 companies ready to celebrate the 2018 thousandth of the king of Valpolicella, the protagonist of Amarone Opera Prima scheduled in Verona, at the Palazzo della Gran Guardia - in the shadow of the Arena - on 4 and 5 February. Organized by the Valpolicella wine consortium, the denomination's flagship event thus returns to its traditional winter location, while maintaining the restyling of the name of the extraordinary preview last June for the benefit of a versatile format that can also be implemented out of season, albeit with diversified thematic focuses.

At the opening of the two days of Amarone Opera Prima in Verona, the city that holds the record for the largest urban vineyard in the boot, the inaugural press conference (Saturday 4 February, Auditorium Gran Guardia at 11) with the presentation of the market data of the appellation , the value of generational turnover and prospects for wine tourism in Valpolicella by the president of the Consortium, Christian Marchesini , and the 2018 wine year introduced by Giambattista Tornielli , associate professor of General Arboriculture and tree cultivation at the University of Verona.

Following the spotlights on the last step of the candidacy of the centuries-old technique from the set aside of the Valpolicella grapes to UNESCO intangible heritage , with the contributions of Pier Luigi Petrillo , professor and director of the UNESCO chair on intangible cultural heritage of the Unitelma University Sapienza University of Rome and Elisabetta Moro , full professor of cultural anthropology at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples. Patrizio La Pietra , Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Gianmarco Mazzi , Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, Luca Zaia , President of the Veneto Region and Damiano Tommasi , Mayor of Verona, take part in the talk show.

After the calls to action on the territory made last year by the Promoting Committee (of which the Consortium is coordinator), the candidacy process now enters the final phase with the official presentation of the dossier which will subsequently be sent to the Ministries of Culture and 'Agriculture and the National Commission for Unesco (an inter-ministerial body headed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), which by 30 March will have to choose the Italian candidacy to be sent to Paris for the complex evaluation by Unesco.

The tastings at the stands of the companies reserved for the national and international press will start from 12.30 on the first day, while from 16.30 to 19.00 Amarone Opera Prima will also be open to operators and wine lovers who will be able to repeat the tastings the following day, Sunday 5 February , from 10.00 to 19.30 (admission fee reserved for over 18s. Ticket: 35 euros in presale and 40 euros on the days of the event).

www.amaroneoperaprima.it

Attached: the program of the event, while the list of participating companies can be consulted on the website: amaroneoperaprima.it.

The Consortium for the Protection of Valpolicella Wines, in addition to being at the forefront on the front for the candidacy of the technique of setting grapes aside as an intangible heritage of humanity, is one of the partners of the European campaign "That's Amore - European lifestyle: taste wonderfood" , which aims to promote and encourage the diffusion and knowledge on the Italian, German and Czech Republic markets of certified products with high quality and food safety standards as well as strongly representative of the territory of origin and production. In addition to the wines protected by the Valpolicella Consortium such as Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, Valpolicella DOC, Valpolicella Ripasso DOC and Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG, the other protagonists of the campaign are some of the flagships of Made in Italy such as Asiago cheese DOP, Nano Vialone Veronese IGP rice, Garda DOP extra virgin olive oil, Tergeste DOP extra virgin olive oil and Veneto DOP extra virgin olive oil, all varieties protected by the Verona Oil Producers Association.

Consortium for the Protection of Valpolicella Wines

Over 2400 companies including winemakers, winemakers and bottlers in a production area that extends over 19 municipalities in the province of Verona, from Valpolicella to the Verona city which holds the record for the largest urban vineyard in the boot, 8600 hectares of vineyards and a tour turnover of over 600 million euros, more than half of which refer to the performance of Amarone. It is the snapshot of the Consortium for the protection of Valpolicella wines which, with over 80% of representation, protects and promotes the denomination in Italy and in the world. Three areas that identify the large production area: the Classic area, (Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella, San Pietro in Cariano, Fumane, Marano and Negrar); the Valpantena area, including the homonymous valley; the Valpolicella DOC area, with Verona, Illasi, Tramigna and Mezzane. The native varieties that give life to the wines of the Valpolicella wine denominations are: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Molinara. The wines of the denomination are Valpolicella doc, Valpolicella Ripasso doc, Amarone della Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella both docg.