Valpolicella Ripasso, Northern Italy
A zero-waste hero in the world of wine. We love the process involved in making a Valpolicella Ripasso, and we love drinking it too. It’s a very special bottle of wine with a great story to tell.
There are 5 different classifications or styles of wine in Valpolicella; it’s important to touch on these first as they help illuminate the process involved in making a Ripasso.
Valpolicella DOC. This is an easy-drinking everyday red. It’s light and fruity and can come from anywhere within the region.
Valpolicella Classico DOC. This one’s a cut above a standard Valpolicella, literally, as these wines come from vineyards a little higher up in the foothills where the growing conditions are superior. This too is light/medium-bodied with light tannins, bright acidity and lots of red fruit flavours - think cherries and raspberries. It’s Italy’s answer to Beaujolais.
Amarone della Valpolicella (Katy’s baby!). This absolute beast of a red wine uses the ‘passito method’ whereby the grapes are harvested early and dried indoors over several months; drying the grapes concentrates their sugars and flavour compounds as well as their skin-to-juice ratio all of which yields a wine with greater structure, huge concentration of flavour, and much more booze… An Amarone is the most-powerful non-fortified wine you can get your hands on.
Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG. A sweet red wine made from incredibly sugary, concentrated grapes.
Valpolicella Ripasso (Joey’s favourite!). No spoilers, you’ll have to read on...
5 facts on Valpolicella Ripasso:
Valpolicella is a region not a grape. The dominating grape in any Valpolicella is Corvina. It’s a native Italian grape that’s thin skinned with low-medium tannins and high acidity.
Valpolicella Ripasso has a double fermentation… There’s the initial fermentation of corvina grapes into a red wine; following this, a neighbouring vat of Amarone (see above) is drained off its skins, and those grape skins are added into the vat of Valpolicella, juicy and unpressed. The Valpolicella is then fermented a second time in contact with those ‘second hand’ Amarone skins thus imparting more colour, flavour and tannins to the wine.
It’s nicknamed ‘Baby Amarone’ or ‘Amarone light’.
Tell-tale flavours of a Valpolicella Ripasso include stewed cherries, cooked plums and dried fruits.
While the concentration of fruit flavours lends Ripassos a soft richness, their acidity remains high; freshness coupled with intensity of flavour makes for an excellent food wine.
3 vegcentric pairings for Valpolicella Ripasso:
Tomato, fennel & butterbean casserole.
Arguably a Valpolicella Ripasso would be a little light if paired with big beefy dishes, but its not-too-rich and not-too-heavy nature makes it an exceptional match with complex, flavoursome vegetarian food. This pairing is a simple “what grows together goes together” number : a classic Italian stew is very happy with a classic Italian red!
Rosemary roasted squash ribollita.
Ditto to the reasoning above. The squash is well-roasted before joining the ribollita in this recipe; these charred notes lend a greater depth and complexity of flavour to the stew, much like those Ripasso Amarone grape skins do to the Valpolicella! Woody rosemary rubs up nicely with the wine’s tannins here.
Cacio e pepe chickpeas.
This one is a contrasting pairing, rather than congruent one. Bold red fruit flavours, grippy tannins and high acidity cut through the creamy, cheesy, peppery chickpeas wonderfully. Opposites, as they say, indeed attract.