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Tag: Italy

Vernaccia di San Gimignano and Tuscan memories of gluttony

The senses can be a truly powerful force. I recently opened a bottle of Vernaccia di San Gimignano and found myself in TuscanyRead on as I recount our last evening in Tuscany and the amazing farm-to-table meal at Fattoria Poggio Alloro.

Anyone else embarking on wine travel these days?

I love drinking a wine and being transported to far-off places through the sensations on my palate.

I’m talking about pulling the cork and being whisked away to a foreign land by the bouquet. You close your eyes and with that first sip you can hear the Mediterranean breeze whispering through the olive trees.

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Wining in Valpolicella: an afternoon with Bertani

A year ago, I was in Italy, eating a ridiculous amount of pasta and pizza, and drinking copious amounts of aperol spritzes and delicious Italian wine. Looking back at those pictures makes me want to drop everything and get on a plane. Maybe that explains the Italian kick I’ve been on lately. When planning our trip, I was a bit nervous about Italy. I had spent a lifetime hyping it up in my head. Would it live up to my expectations? It’s Italy—of course it did. It was everything I dreamed it would be, and more.

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Have you tried this affordable bubbly red wine? The lowdown on Lambrusco.

Hello my wine-loving friends!

I know it must be a shock to see Wining with Mel re-appearing out of the blue like this after such a long absence. Five months, to be exact. Rest assured that despite the lack of posts, you have not left my thoughts. I have been battling a heavy dose of guilt for not writing. Did you think of me a little while I was gone?

It goes without saying that coming back to the “real world” after a year off – first traipsing around Europe, then sailing around the Caribbean – has been a bit of an adjustment. I have gone from a completely unstructured life on a boat to being back in an office 5 days a week. I have gone from wearing flips flops or going barefoot to donning high heels. Continue reading

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.

Map of the Veneto region

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.proteggi_img
Apassimento racks in Veneto
Appassimento racks c/o Masi

This apassimento process dries out the water and concentrates the amount of sugar in the grapes, which then yields a higher alcohol content during fermentation. 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 body, texture and rich flavours to the Valpolicella and makes for a consistently beautiful wine.

Valpolicella wines visual by Wine Folly
Breakdown of Valpolicella wines c/o Wine Folly

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.

Glass and bottle of Farina Valpolicella Ripasso with dairy-free lasagna
Farina Valpolicella Ripasso with Mel’s dairy-free lasagna

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 acidity that makes you want to drink more!  This wine is medium bodied, dry, and has nicely integrated, subtle tannins. 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 finish.

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 body and fruit-forward character, not to mention high acidity, made it a perfect match. Don’t forget, wines with high acidity 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!


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!

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