Ripasso: unique and historic

This article looks at the significance of a term, "Ripasso", that indicates both a wine-making method with a long tradition and the wine obtained from it, Valpolicella Ripasso, a red from the Veneto produced exclusively in the Valpolicella in the hilly zone north of Verona.

Valpolicella wines in brief

Before talking about Ripasso, let's have a look together at the Valpolicella wines. The Consorzio della Valpolicella website is a great help and obviously has lots of details. Here's a brief overview:

• Valpolicella
  A red wine obtained from indigenous grapes, Corvina and/or Corvinone and Rondinella.
• Amarone della Valpolicella
  A red wine from grapes harvested by hand and placed in boxes (or on grates) and then taken into ventilated fruit sheds where they remain for 3-4 months. This leads to the loss of about 30% of their weight and the concentration of the sugars contained in the berries, resulting in a very dry, highly structured red when vinified.
• Recioto della Valpolicella
  Sweet red wine obtained from raisining grapes kept in sheds for 100-120 days and halting fermentation in order to retain the percentage of sugar necessary for guaranteeing the typical structure of this wine.
• Valpolicella Ripasso
  A red made by macerating Valpolicella wine along with marc from Recioto or Amarone.

The Ripasso method

The Ripasso method is an ancient technique that involves "re-passing" Valpolicella wine, bringing it into contact with Amarone or Recioto marc for 15-20 days during which a second alcoholic fermentation occurs.

Even though it is a very old technique, practiced by Valpolicella producers for centuries, the term "Ripasso" only entered the wine rulebook in recent years and it was also only recently that Valpolicella Ripasso obtained full DOC recognition. Moreover, such a special method as this does not seem to have equals in other regions with the sole exception of "Governo", a technique used prevalently in Tuscany that also involves a second fermentation but this time with raisined grapes and not with marc like Ripasso.

Ripasso is a great example of peasant common sense, economy without waste, one of the topics of the moment. The story of Ripasso in fact follows the same logic as "never throw anything away" just like all the things that can be made from a pig. There's lots of truth in the old sayings.

Ripasso sprang from the desire not to "waste" any the things that remained in the Recioto marc when the wine had been drawn off:  complex aromas, alcohol, sugars and tannins, precious fruits that would have been a real sin to throw away!

And so Valpolicella, a red wine vinified in September which in the past was often light and fresh, was "repassed" on this marc.

Valpolicella Ripasso

Because of its grapes, its characteristics and the way it is produced, we can therefore declare that Ripasso is a unique wine: not only does it have its own very distinct and defined personality, a full-bodied character that is engaging, smooth and enveloping at the same time, but its fame can compete with that of an extraordinary wine like Amarone to the point that its success has continued to grow in recent years among consumers, especially younger ones.

In short, it has all the papers in order (alcohol, structure and smoothness) for confirming the success achieved over the years and probably increasing it.

Why not try it yourself then with all this in mind?