Love for Valpolicella Ripasso (plus my dairy-free lasagna)

Fellow wine lovers,

Today I am very excited to be sharing one of my favourite wines styles with you. I often forget about ripasso, but today’s bottle has served as a delicious reminder.

Ripasso wines are made in the Veneto region, which is in northeastern Italy between Verona and Venice.

The ripasso process

1. The first step in making ripasso wines is making a Valpolicella.  This table wine is made from three Italian grapes: corvina, rondinella and molinara.
2. The second step involves another wine called amarone. Amarone is made with the same grapes, however these grapes have been dried in a process called apassimento, whereby they are dried in the heat of the end of the summer, traditionally on straw mats.

This apassimento process dries out the water and concentrates the amount of sugar in the grapes, which then yields a higher alcohol content during fermentationThe process by which yeasts convert the natural sugars in grapes to alcohol, thereby producing wine!. Amarone is the wine created using these dried grapes, and is the crème de la crème of Italian wines. However, these bottles start at $30 and up, so are not always the most affordable choice.

Ripassos (meaning re-passed), on the other hand, are a happy medium between the everyday Valpolicella wines and the higher-end amarones.

Valpolicella + Amarone skins = Valpolicella ripasso

Ripasso is made by running Valpolicella wines through the rich amarone skins. This process adds bodyA wine’s body refers to its weight on the palate. It’s generally directly correlated to alcohol content. Lighter bodied wines are generally lower alcohol, and heavier wines are higher in... More, texture and rich flavours to the Valpolicella and makes for a consistently beautiful wine.

Mel’s dairy-free lasagna

Last Saturday night I made my special lasagna. It is special because I’ve adapted the recipe over time to meet my husband’s non-dairy needs, i.e. no cow milk products. If I can’t find sheep or buffalo ricotta, I make my own out of tofu. I also replace regular mozzarella with President’s Choice goat mozzarella. It’s pretty darned good, if I do say so myself. The recipe is at the bottom of this post.

Farina “La Pezze” Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore DOC

Tasting note

This medium ruby red-coloured wine has aromas of cherry, blackberry, raisin (from the amarone skins), cocoa, vanilla, cedar, tobacco and a touch of menthol.  On the palate, the first thing I noticed was a juicy, mouthwatering acidityAcidity is an important part of a wine’s structure that prevents a wine from being “flabby”. It’s what gives you that tingling sensation on your tongue and makes you salivate.... More that makes you want to drink more!  This wine is medium bodiedA wine’s body refers to its weight on the palate. It’s generally directly correlated to alcohol content. Lighter bodied wines are generally lower alcohol, and heavier wines are higher in... More, dry, and has nicely integrated, subtle tanninsTannins help form a wine’s structure, but generally only in red wines. Tannins come from the grape’s stems, seeds and skins, and to a lesser extent from the wood in.... It’s got gorgeous fruit flavours like fresh raspberry, blackberry and black cherry,  and is also heavy on the dried fruit (raisin, date and fig) with undertones of chocolate, cigar box and leather. It finishes off with a  lovely medium-long black cherry finishThe finish is a descriptor of how long a wine’s flavour sticks around after it leaves your mouth. You often hear wine descriptions saying short, medium, or long/lingering finish, and....

Ripasso food pairings

A standard rule of thumb is pairing food and wines from the same geographical region, so it would stand to reason that this wine would go perfectly with lasagna (or pizza, or grilled meats, or cheeses, for that matter).

This particular ripasso, although much lighter than the benchmark ripasso, went extremely well with my lasagna. Sometimes goat cheese does funny things with red wines, particularly tannic ones, but the Farina ripasso’s medium bodyA wine’s body refers to its weight on the palate. It’s generally directly correlated to alcohol content. Lighter bodied wines are generally lower alcohol, and heavier wines are higher in... More and fruit-forward character, not to mention high acidityAcidity is an important part of a wine’s structure that prevents a wine from being “flabby”. It’s what gives you that tingling sensation on your tongue and makes you salivate.... More, made it a perfect match. Don’t forget, wines with high acidityAcidity is an important part of a wine’s structure that prevents a wine from being “flabby”. It’s what gives you that tingling sensation on your tongue and makes you salivate.... More are great food wines, so this is a great food-friendly candidate that would make a great contribution to dinner parties.

Happy weekend and happy wining!

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Mel’s delicious dairy-free lasagna recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb of ground Italian sausage meat
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 jars of high-quality tomato sauce
• 1 tsp basil and oregano
• Oven-ready lasagna noodles (I use brown rice noodles so it’s even gluten-free)
• 1 (15 oz) container of ricotta cheese (or tofu ricotta + nutritional yeast)
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning (or just oregano, basil, thyme and rosemary)
• 4 cups of shredded goat mozzarella
• 1/2 of grated pecorino romano (hard sheep cheese in place of Parmesan)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until nearly browned. Add onion and garlic until cooked (3-5 minutes).
3. Add pasta sauce, and basil and oregano. Let simmer.
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ricotta and Italian seasoning.
5. Put a bit of sauce at the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Top with 3 noodles. Cover noodles with 1/3 of ricotta cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella and 1 cup of sauce.
6. Repeat layers two more times.
7. Add top layer of noodles. Top with remaining sauce and cover with remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle pecorino over mozzarella.
8. Cover and bake about 45 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and noodles are tender. Uncover and bake an extra 5 minutes to brown edges.
9. Remove from oven and let settle for 10-15 minutes before serving.

N.B. I find that the smaller the baking dish, the further the sauce goes. Go with the smallest dish that your lasagna noodles will fit in!

Bon appétit! Let me know how it goes in the comments below!