Amarone is a 'Recioto della Valpolicella' literally a winemade in Valpolicella from grape bunches with ears. Valpolicella is in the Veneto region of Italy where Venice and Verona stand. Venetians are very proud of their somewhat Mickey Mouse-shaped bunches, but the very first thing they do when the time comes to make Amarone, is to chop the ears off, a practice learned from the Turks who used to make very funny necklaces with them.

The area where Amarone is made is small but there are more Amarone than hair on my head. Not many, as you can see, but enough to create confusion. Several varieties of the grape are used:
Corvina (the little black bird), Rondinella (the little swallow), Molinara (the miller's wife), Negrara (the black one), Zingarella (the gypsy girl), and Sangiovese (St. John).