Good Morning!

Everyday I try to learn something new about wine. Sometimes I get my information from a book, the internet, from tasting or from reading blogs written by folks who have spent their entire careers in the wine industry. I started really late but I am open to learning from anyone who has info I should know.

Yesterday, I was at one of my fav wine shops and a wine rep had a little table set up and he was serving up Italian wines. The rep was dressed in a tweed jacket and a bow tie. He had stories of his travels and all the winemakers he met in Italy and honestly the wines were ok, nothing unique until he poured a Rispasso Valpolicella. I have had Valpolicella before and this wine tasted, fuller, fruitier and I felt like it was sweeter (but it is not a “sweet” wine). So I ask my new pal the wine rep about the wine and he launched into a sermon about ripasso.

I came home to read up about what ripasso means and I found tons of information and thought I would share it with you. The ripasso process is used in producing some Valpolicella wines to give them richness and body. After the Valpolicella wine is fermented in the normal way, it’s placed in casks containing the Lees (the dead yeast cells), from a prior batch of Recioto or Recioto Amarone, a concentrated wine made from Passito grapes. This process, which can last 2-3 weeks, adds color, tannins, and complex flavors.

I ended up buying a bottle of the wine and checked out the other Ripasso Valpolicella’s in the store. I noticed the valpolicella’s that I found were a few bucks cheaper, but the valpolicella that had undergone the ripasso process were a wee bit more, that makes sense, more processes, more costs and time are involved.

I like Italian wine, I love the lightness in many of the wines I have tried. I love how they work with tomatoes and sauces. They pair nicely with salty cheeses and one of my favorite things to make in the world is pizza, I hand make the dough and sometimes I make mozzarella cheese and I grow my own basil, so these wines are great and they are budget friendly. I can not open a $25.00 bottle every night, but I can spend $10-15 a night and most of the wines I have tried are in that ballpark.

I wanted to share what I found out about Ripasso Valpoilcella with you!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi