Treasury of a lifetime: Dal Forno from the barrel.Thr pistachios are from New Mexico. Also VA peanuts. I did my best to spoil Romano. Caymus Special Select, too.
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I don’t have an ounce of the experience and understsnding of the wine world that many here share, but I have the feeling nowdays these that have become “big names” aren’t as easily accessible to the simple (albeit enthusiast) consumer. I’ve yet to visit a winery because I feel big houses invested a lot on facilities, services, hot hostesses (many places in Langhe and Franciacorta are good examples and probably Tuscany as well) but they might find you very basic and cold tour, having you drink only “base” wines, very low engagement.
And maybe, at the other end of the specrtum, old school vignerons are closing themeselves up as well because they expect swarm of casual tourists.
Otto,
Thanks for the advice. I get the Costasera Classico for $35 at duty free, and haven’t tried the Riserva.
I have had Zenato and Zenato Reserva.
What have you considered good QPR buys?
Zenato valpolicella ripasso is superb. ‘16 is a landmark vintage to look for. Worth every penny of $25 or so.
winter is a great time for Amarone. Find the right moments, not just the right pairings. IMO the problem for some more unique wines is that we don’t drink them in the right mental space, and our expectations jade the experience, even when we arent aware of it.
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I have one bottle…hardly ever have this style…so what should I pair it with?
A few candles and a small fishbowl to sip from. Perhaps some soft blues in the background…
My understanding is that Ripasso is the regular Valpolicella blend that has
been in contact with the Amarone lees (skins and such leftover from vinification).
To me, there isn’t enough of the Amarone characther transferred to the wine, and
therefore Ripassos have always been underwhelming. Perhaps the 2016 Zenato
is better…
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This is exactly what a Ripasso wine is. The literally translation of the word is “repassed.” A standard Valpolicella red is left to macerate with spent Amarone must. Like yourself, I have never been impressed with this wine category for the exact reason you stated and don’t understand why anyone would drink it when Amarone is readily available and relatively affordable.
I am going to have to disagree here. Valpolicella Classico and Amarone serve very different purposes, while Ripasso generally serves a similar purpose to Amarone, but when you are looking at affordable Amarone, I think many Ripassi are better. It makes little sense when comparing from the same producer, but often the Ripasso of 1 producers is really competing with a similar priced Amarone of another producer. And in those cases I often find that a solid Ripasso will outperform a weaker Amarone.
For example I would prefer Zenato’s or Bertani’s Ripasso to Cesare’s Amarone.
I’ve heard once a Veneto born Veneto wine enjoyer (nasty people on average the Veneti, hoping there are none around here who could get offended 
) that the ripasso is the true ancient method of wine making for red wines in veneto. I think they were referring to the general concept of making a first wine and then make a second wine with better grapes using the vinacce of the first wine. That ofc wasn’t Ripasso by modern disciplinary.
I don’t have any idea if this story is true, I don’t think it’s relevant either way.
From my understanding it was actually Recioto that was the predecessor to Amarone and it was made over 2000 years ago, but Ripassi may have been made at that time as well, repassing over the skins of the grapes used for Recioto.
The story has it that much more recently (less than 100 years ago) some recioto accidentally sat too long and more of the sugar became alcohol. The wine was bitter (compared to recioto), so they called it Amarone Recioto della Valpolicella. Amaro means bitter in Italian.
So I think you are right anyway that it came well before Amarone, but Recioto is where Amarone came from rather than from Ripasso.
The 2nd Italian teacher I had was from Venezia. He was absolutely the opposite of that, a most kind and supportive gentlemen, the sort that you’d want to introduce to your daughter with barely disguised encouragement.
… which made it all the more incongruous when he spoke so fondly of ‘le professoresse’ on L’eredità, something that feels anachronistically sexist to us in the UK.
Thanks for claryfyng, that’s the true proven “history” ofc but this fellow was talking about Ripasso at the time I heard it (he was also kinda drunk and raving against orange wines).
Especially because Recioto and Amarone are very different wines, besides the origin of Amarone itself I think the point he was making is that a dry Ripasso style wine was made prior to Amarone so it’s more historical.
Mind that this guy was just a random dude in his 50s at a bar counter next to me, no reason whstsoever to put any amount of trust in his words but maybe this idea floated around even if baseles.
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Well I don’t consider Venezia really part of Veneto anymore for my “stereotypes” , which is also why there’s the recurring trend among people from Veneto is that they hate Venezia, I think on the same tone random dudes from the midwest would hate Los Angeles and probably the avg brit in the shires would hate London, same goes for Paris in France. Ofc we’re talking about memes, don’t take anything seriously.
On the sexism note: I believe that culturally if you don’t take any chance you can to loudly appreciate women (in a sexual matter, for anything else women belong to the kitchen) you are at risk of being percieved gay, on a subconscous level. New generations are less and less like that, but that’s another story.
Family had a Guissepe Campagnolo Amarone Classico 2015 at Bleu Provence in Naples FL. It was very nice. Also ate at Al Amarone in Venice Itally- great food and great selection.
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I am with most of the posters here, the wines are just too big for me. Not that I don’t love the wines…
But I purchase a lot of Valpolicella, its the perfect middle of the week dinner wine.
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