Here’s something that should bother you a little. Italy has hundreds of wine grape varieties, and most of us rotate between about five. Meanwhile, the lesser-known Italian grapes sit on shelves wondering what they did wrong. Pinot Grigio gets the supermarket aisle, Prosecco gets the party, and a poor Timorasso…
There are certain things you expect to do on a wine trip to Italy, and joining a grape harvest in Italy usually isn’t one of them. Walk through a vineyard. Visit a cellar. Taste four wines and nod thoughtfully when someone says “you can really taste the minerality,” even though…
I used to think Pinot Grigio had one personality: cold, pale, easy to drink, and very committed to minding its own business. You ordered it when you didn’t want to spend ten minutes studying the wine list. Nobody at the table objected, nobody needed an explanation, it arrived cold, did…
Picture walking through Pompeii. Ancient streets, ruined houses, frescoes that somehow survived a volcano, Vesuvius sitting in the distance looking far too calm considering what it did the last time. Then you turn a corner and there’s a vineyard. Not a reconstruction behind glass, not a handful of decorative vines…
Some wines make me thirsty. Not all of them, which took me a while to notice. I’ll finish a glass of one red and feel completely normal. Then on a different night, with a different wine, I’m reaching for water before I’ve even cleared half the glass. Real thirst, the…
Ripasso is often called “baby Amarone.” I’ll be honest: I can’t remember anyone saying this to me at a table or in a wine shop. This nickname shows up constantly in wine writing and almost nowhere else. That’s exactly why I wanted to dig into where it comes from, rather…
Ripasso and Amarone both come from Valpolicella in Veneto. Both lean on the same traditional grapes, mainly Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella. They can sit right next to each other on a wine shop shelf and look equally Italian. They still hand you two completely different evenings. One is richer than…
Ripasso is what happens when Valpolicella decides it wants a little more drama. Regular Valpolicella is bright, fresh, full of sour-cherry energy. Amarone is richer, warmer, and considerably more intense. Ripasso sits comfortably between the two. It carries more body and depth than ordinary Valpolicella. It’s usually easier to drink…
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