Italy · red
Valpolicella Ripasso
Valpolicella re-passed over the drained skins of Amarone, gaining body, alcohol and dried-fruit character.
What is Valpolicella Ripasso?
Ripasso is made by passing finished Valpolicella over the skins left from Amarone fermentation. Residual sugar in the skins triggers a small refermentation, adding alcohol, colour, glycerol and dried-fruit character.
It sits deliberately between the two, and is often the most practical Valpolicella purchase: more substance than the base wine, far less money than Amarone.
Grapes
What it tastes like
| Dimension | Typical | Range | Variation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweetness | low-medium | Some variation | |
| Acidity | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Tannin | medium | Some variation | |
| Alcohol | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Body | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Fruit intensity | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Aromatic intensity | medium | Consistent | |
| Oak influence | low-medium | Some variation | |
| Savoury character | medium | Some variation | |
| Floral character | low | Consistent | |
| Herbal / green character | low | Consistent | |
| Spice | medium | Some variation | |
| Earthy character | low | Consistent | |
| Perceived freshness | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Texture | medium-plus | Some variation |
Common flavours
What makes it this way
The decisions and conditions that produce this style rather than another.
- Refermentation on Amarone skins
- Higher alcohol and body than base Valpolicella
- A faint dried-fruit sweetness even when technically dry
How it is made
Why does it taste like that?
The grape, the growing season, the winemaking and the age — what each contributes, and what none of them determines.
If you like Valpolicella Ripasso, try…
Each suggestion says why it is connected and what will be different.
Closest matches
What is most like this?
Corvina
Both are made from corvina, and the structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be more oaky, and leaner and more cutting.
Nero d’Avola
The structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, and both sit in the same style family.
Expect it to be drier, and more oaky.
Corvinone
Both are made from corvinone, and the structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be less spicy, and less oaky.
Similar but lighter
Something like this, but lighter?
Rondinella
Both are made from rondinella, and the structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be less spicy, and less oaky.
Valpolicella
Both are made from corvina, and they occupy similar territory for weight and structure, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be lighter, and leaner and more cutting.
Dolcetto
The structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, and both sit in the same style family.
Expect it to be less spicy, and drier.
Similar but lower in alcohol
Something like this, but less alcoholic?
Valpolicella
Both are made from corvina, and they occupy similar territory for weight and structure, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be lighter, and leaner and more cutting.
Cru Beaujolais
They occupy similar territory for weight and structure, and both sit in the same style family.
Expect it to be more floral, and less spicy.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria
They occupy similar territory for weight and structure, and both come from the same country.
Expect it to be more floral, and less spicy.
Similar but fuller
Something like this, but richer?
Amarone della Valpolicella
Both are made from corvina, and the structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be broader and softer, and more tannic and structured.
Primitivo di Manduria
The structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, and both come from the same country.
Expect it to be broader and softer, and softer and rounder.
Argentine Malbec
The structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin.
Expect it to be more floral, and drier.
What to eat with it
Ragù bolognese
A step richer, with the concentration to match a long-cooked sauce.
Fillet steak
Works because the finished dish, not the raw ingredient, sets the target.
Turkey
Works because the finished dish, not the raw ingredient, sets the target.
Lasagne
Enough body for a rich dish while keeping the acidity the tomato demands.
Osso buco
Richer and rounder, and a good match if the sauce is heavy on tomato.
Grilled chicken
Works because ripe fruit balances the bitterness of char and smoke.
What to avoid with it
Dishes the pairing engine scores badly, and the principle that explains why. A short list: most things are fine.
Korean barbecue
High alcohol will make the dish taste noticeably hotter.
Salmon in a cream sauce
Noticeable tannin is a risk with fish even where the wine is otherwise a reasonable weight.
Lobster
Noticeable tannin is a risk with fish even where the wine is otherwise a reasonable weight.
Salmon
Noticeable tannin is a risk with fish even where the wine is otherwise a reasonable weight.
How to serve it
Temperature
15–17°C
59–63°F · Cellar cool
Most modern rooms are warmer than this. Twenty to thirty minutes in the fridge before serving usually gets a red into range.
Decanting
Optional — it will not hurt, and may help a little
Dense, full-bodied wines tend to open up and show more aroma after time in a decanter.
Roughly 20–60 minutes.
Glass
Universal wine glass
A medium tulip-shaped glass handles almost everything well. If you own one set of glasses, this is the set to own — the difference between a good universal glass and a grape-specific one is far smaller than the difference between a good glass and a bad one.
Ageing
Five to eight years. Passing the wine over Amarone skins adds alcohol, glycerol and tannin, and that extra structure is what lets it outlast basic Valpolicella.
Ageing potential
Can age a long time
A decade and often far longer · confidence: low
Built for it. The best examples change substantially and are often better at twenty years than at five. The worst examples of the same style are not, which is why the producer matters more here than anywhere.
Why
- Favours ageing. Acidity. High. Acidity is the single best predictor of longevity across every style — a low-pH wine is more stable both chemically and microbiologically.
- Favours ageing. Tannin. Moderate — some protection and some to resolve.
- Favours ageing. Concentration. Full-bodied and concentrated. This correlates with longevity rather than causing it, but a wine with more to lose takes longer to lose it.
What this cannot tell you
- Age is not improvement. A great many wines are made to be drunk within two years and get worse, not better, with time — and there is no shame in a style that is at its best young.
- WineHQ does not publish drinking windows. A window like "2032–2041" requires knowing the producer, the vintage and how the bottle was stored, and a style-level model knows none of those.
- Bottle variation at twenty years is large, especially under cork, where oxygen ingress differs between individual closures from the same batch.
Compare
- Valpolicella vs Ripasso — What does "ripasso" do to the wine?
- Amarone vs Ripasso — The full-price version, and the one made from what it left behind.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Italian DOP and IGP wine register — Ministero dell’agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste (MASAF)