Ripasso is ridiculously amazing

Big, bold and heavy reds have not always been my wine category of choice. I used to always prefer a white, regardless of the social situation, meal or season. There was something about the crisp, light taste of white wines that I enjoyed and did not want to stray from. When I began to take wine courses at George Brown (GBC - Wine Specialist Certificate) I had to learn to drink red wines (was. Slowly but surely, I began to enjoy them more and more, and now I tend to keep more red wine in my wine fridge, and lean towards a glass of red at more restaurants.

In my discovery of red wine, I stumbled across an amazing Ripasso in Vintages Essentials. The wine is the Zenato Ripassa Valpolicella Superiore, DOC and essentially the name means that it is a Rippaso from Valpolicella in Italy.

Basically, to get this wine, you start off with the preparation that is undergone for Amarone (delicious and comes with a hefty price tag!). The grapes are dried for Amarone for a few months, typically on straw mats. This allows the flavours to concentrate, along with sugar, as the grapes begin to shrivel. Once this is done, these are the items that are fermented and pressed in the winemaking process. The leftover “stuff” in the barrel is then “repassed” and Valpolicella is added to the mixture, this is then fermented again and voila you have Ripasso! This process allows for you to get delicious, bold red wines with concentrated and complex flavours for a fraction of the price. This Vintages Essential retails for $24.95 and is a bargain at that. It has strong flavours and aromas of blackberry, plum and cocoa, and is perfect for any Italian food, beef, or on its own (if you don’t mind a heavy, delicious wine on its own!). It is a great go-to wine and I suggest that everyone should try a bottle!

HM