2019 Recchia Valpolicella Ripasso
2019 Recchia Valpolicella Ripasso Seriously rich, smooth and satisfying Italian red. This could easily pass for an Amarone with its richness, but with the more reasonable alcohol of 14.5%.
In the late 20th century, a new style of wine known as ripasso (meaning “repassed”) emerged. With this technique, the pomace of leftover grape skins and seeds from the fermentation of recioto and Amarone are added to the batch of Valpolicella wines for a period of extended maceration. The additional food source for the remaining fermenting yeasts helps boost the alcohol level and body of the wines while also leaching additional tannins, glycerine and some phenolic compounds that contribute to a wine’s complexity, flavor and colour. Valpolicella on steroids, baby amarone or perhaps somewhere inbetween.
The farm of Fratelli Recchia is situated in the heart of the historic Valpolicella region. Tradition and innovation, experience and technical progress, the philosophy that has come down through the generations, a perfect union between the old and the new. In 1906 Giovanni Battista Recchia bought a small estate in Jago, Valle de Negrar, built his house and started to cultivate the few vineyards still present at the end of 1800’s. With seriousness and passion the vineyard holdings and production are considerably increased, the company now having 60 hectares of vineyards in Valpolicella and Lake Garda.