Freddy R. Troya

9.5

Sant’Urbano, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2020, Veneto, Italy 🇮🇹

Overview
Produced by Speri in the historic hills of Valpolicella Classico, the Sant’Urbano Amarone is one of the estate’s flagship wines and a benchmark expression of the style. Crafted from the traditional Amarone blend, primarily Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella, the grapes undergo the classic appassimento drying process for several months before fermentation, concentrating flavors and structure. The 2020 vintage shows remarkable balance between richness and freshness, delivering depth while maintaining precision and lift.

Aromas & Flavors
Subtle yet expressive layers of dried raisin, marmalade, and dark fruit compote emerge alongside notes of ripe cherry, fig, and delicate spice. The aromatic profile reveals the classic Amarone character without becoming overly heavy, allowing fruit purity and complexity to remain in focus.

Mouthfeel
Full-bodied yet remarkably lively, the wine moves across the palate with impressive energy. Structured tannins and vibrant acidity provide a firm backbone, giving the wine lift and elegance. The texture is rich but polished, and the finish is long, layered, and persistent, suggesting a wine that will continue to evolve and climb with further aging.

Food Pairings
This Amarone pairs beautifully with slow-braised meats, roasted lamb, venison, and rich game dishes where its concentration and acidity complement savory depth. It also shines alongside aged cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino, where the wine’s structure and lingering finish enhance the richness of the pairing.

Verdict
A beautifully balanced Amarone that combines power with finesse. Structured, energetic, and elegant, it delivers both immediate pleasure and strong aging potential.

Did You Know?
The Sant’Urbano vineyard from which this wine takes its name is one of Speri’s historic crus in Valpolicella Classico and is considered among the estate’s most important sites for producing Amarone with both structure and longevity.

🍷 Personal Pick
An Amarone that truly danced across the palate, rich yet vibrant, with subtle dried fruit, marmalade, and compote supported by strong structure and acidity. Delicious now, but clearly a wine that still has room to climb. — 8 months ago

Rex Campbell

9.2

Things that stood out: raisinated stone fruit and leather. 2017 vintage, very much enjoyed with a spaghetti bolognese. — 5 years ago

Nagib Nasr

8.9

First bottle was aged, second was good. It may have been the cork. — 5 years ago

Peter Wilczynski

9.0

Deep Italian red, very sweet and perfect with some red sauce pasta — 6 years ago

Mike Laba

9.2

Coming back to this wine a year and a half after I first rated it...still love it. Nice hints of fruit and exceptionally drinkable. Will continue to stock it as a house red — 8 years ago

Nash Hyder

9.3

Full body, rounded flavor full of heavy fruit — 8 years ago

Jd Thibodeau

9.3

Cherry red. Dry-sour fruits on the nose. Medium plus body, no or little oak, very fruity, high acidity. Good Rippasso. — 9 years ago

MDB

9.1

Good aroma. Takes time to open. A bit herbaceous finish which lessened over time — 10 years ago

Pooneet K

9.0

Great amarone, and actually not overpowering or overpowered. Had with steak at Chicago cut. — 11 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.3

A blend of Corvina Veronese 45%, Corvinone 45%, Rondinella 5% & Oseleta 5%, deep Ruby with aromas of dried dark fruits, spice and herb, about 120 days of appassimento. On the palate flavors of ripe cherry and raspberry with notes of fig, cacao, flint and mineral tones. Soft smooth tannins well balanced with acidity on a long spicy finish. Will continued to get better with age. Sustainable. — 9 months ago

Irina Georgieva

9.8

Amazing amarone! Rich taste, well-rounded, well balanced, long and rich aftertaste! — 10 months ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

This was one of the treats of the festival. It was in perfect shape and somewhere around its precipice.

The comment made by the women representing it was, she stopped pouring it to many as they simply didn’t appreciate and or understood what they were just poured. If you understand how this is made and the extra process to make good examples, you develop #respect

Not a wine for everyone, but amazing with this kind of age and older.

@Pebble Beach Food and Wine, From The Cellar event. — 2 years ago

Erja Koistinen

9.0

Year 2017. Lovely fruity taste and beautiful bottle. Perfect gift to friends for Xmas. — 5 years ago

Ray Vanderhoff

9.0

Raisin and dried cherry aromas with vanilla, earth and baking spice accents. Same dried fruit flavors with hints of cloves, licorice and tobacco. Minerals and dried herbs on the long chewy finish. Lacking some boldness and a little tight, but still solid. — 6 years ago

Rob Pendell

9.0

Wonderful soft palate with notes of plum and blackberry. Some cherry on the front end with a hint of asphalt. Full mouthful of peach and grapefruit with undertones of almond, tobacco, pine, licorice, cardamom, red velvet, turmeric, oatmeal, cayenne, newspaper, Oreos, bicycle chain, chitlins, camembert, burnt umber, huckleberry, Ripple, plain yogurt, lemongrass, kohlrabe, anise, eggplant, kohlrabi, everything bagel, paczki, aspartame, caramel, coconut, latte, beef carpaccio, pine nuts, Wonder Bread, calamari, watermelon radish Jolly Rancher, aglet, sawdust, gnocchi and red grape. Finish is definitely Bruno Kirby. Pretty complex. — 8 years ago

Ryan Vachon

9.0

Rich, sweet, over ripe cherries, jam, light amaretto, low in tannins, berry forward — 8 years ago

Mark

9.6

Seafood Ristorante in St Andrews Scotland — 9 years ago

Sophie Haverkamp

9.2

2013, rokerig, overrijp fruit, frambozen — 10 years ago

Austin Yursik

9.0

Bye, bye Zonin. — 11 years ago

Jeremiah Diaz

9.2

Clear, medium ruby to garnet in color; on the nose it's, clean with pronounced primary and secondary aromas of cherries, almond,and cloves; on the palate, it's dry with high acidity, medium tannins, medium alcohol, medium body, and pronounced primary and secondary flavors of tart cherry, ripe strawberry, tar, and black tea with a long finish. This wine is complex and intense. Overall, I rate this wine as very good. Nellie likes it too. — 10 months ago

with Nellie

JKT

9.0

Very nice, dark color earthy forest notes into firm palate with a good bite and extending into finish — 10 months ago

Brian Grech

9.4

At Flour + Water with Dani and the Ghafouri’s — 2 years ago

with Ashley

Bonnie Chu

8.9

Slow wine tasting — 5 years ago

Matthew Schloss

9.5

Nice full body. Deep cherry undertones — 6 years ago

Eric Amsler

9.2

Great, big wine...at Filomena's in DC...with great company! — 7 years ago

Jgrilllo

9.2

Amazing simply amazing. Soft gent fruit forward with a very smooth sweetish finish. Lots of fruit and depth. Amazing with cheese and salumi. — 8 years ago

Josh Magness

9.5

Took a while for this wine to open up after decanting. Once it did, chocolate flavors, muted cherry, with slight taste of baking spices. The Acidity helps smooth the hefty 16.5% alcohol content, but this is still a powerful wine. Burnt red color along the rim faded into deep crimson towards the middle of the glass. — 8 years ago

Kenny Louks

9.5

Excellent!!! — 9 years ago

Patrick Don Vito

8.9

TJ's bargain at $20. — 10 years ago

Selim Tlili

9.4

Smooth with notes of raisins. Wonderful bottle! — 12 years ago