Do you have “a thing”? You know, that quirky activity that no one else in your social circle seems to do, so they always associate it with you? Maybe it’s yoga, or knitting, or perhaps something a little more trendy like axe-throwing or adult colouring books. They’re the sort of things that are incredibly helpful to your friends and family when they need to buy you gifts. For example, I have a friend who went through a gin phase. She became the ‘gin girl’ among her circles, and as a result received so many different bottles as gifts for various holidays and birthdays that she now has more gin than she will ever drink.
Obviously, my “thing” is wine tasting. But instead of receiving more wine than I could ever drink (a. is that possible? and b. I am open to this idea), I now have more wine journals than I know what to do with. Continue reading
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
The first step in making ripasso wines is making a Valpolicella. This table wine is made from three Italian grapes: corvina, rondinella and molinara.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Farina Valpolicella Ripasso with Mel’s dairy-free lasagna
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 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
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until nearly browned. Add onion and garlic until cooked (3-5 minutes).
Add pasta sauce, and basil and oregano. Let simmer.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ricotta and Italian seasoning.
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.
Repeat layers two more times.
Add top layer of noodles. Top with remaining sauce and cover with remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle pecorino over mozzarella.
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.
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!
As you will recall, a few weeks ago I blogged about an LCBO article listing its 2015 Customer Favourites. I ran out and bought 3 of the 4 most-bought wines to see what all the fuss was about. In the blog post I reviewed the Beronia Tempranillo, and last weekend I brought the 2 remaining customer favourites to dinner at my sister-in-law’s place. All in all, I think Ontario and I have different tastes, but I can see the appeal of both the wines I tried.
In my job, I spend a lot of time with dictionaries. So wasn’t I surprised when today I saw that “Pinot” is the second most popular search term in the US on oxforddictionaries.com! It’s even trending!
Screenshot, Oxford Dictionaries, January 13, 2016
I find this is interesting. Why the sudden interest in Pinot in the States?
The only thing I can think of is that scene with the music video from the Netflix TV series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. And while I appreciate that this scene from an oddball Tina Fey–produced comedy may be sparking interest in wine, I fear that people may get the wrong idea, given that the song is actually an ode to a dark male appendage. That said, no press is bad press, right?
RELATED UPDATE: https://www.winespectator.com/articles/unbreakable-to-table-tituss-pinot-noir-debuts-52863
Photo: winespectator.com
But is that really it? Is that really why Pinot is the 5th most popular Oxford Dictionary search IN THE WORLD right now??
Pinot is the 5th most popular search term in the world on January 13, 2016. WHY I ask you?? Also, interesting to note that the abbreviation for the province of Quebec is the most searched term in the world today.
In an effort to distract myself from these questions, here are some of the wine regions around the world specializing in pinot noir. Note that this list is by no means exhaustive:
Bourgogne (France) – the original pinot noir – a medium-bodied wine tasting of cherry, fresh red fruit, mushroom and mineral (from the limestone soil in which the grape is grown). It is lower in tannin than most wines since it spends less time on oak, and has high acidity. Its colour is more garnet than ruby red. I like the Albert Bichot.
California – Cali’s pinots tend to be bigger than the average pinot, due to a longer growing season in this warmer climate. I personally enjoy the Robert Mondavi.
Oregon – Oregon pinots are making quite a name for themselves and gaining in popularity on the world market. Their characteristics are much more subtle than their Cali counterparts and make for a refined quaff. As a result, they tend to be on the pricier side (starting at $22). I tried the Duck Pond pinot when I was in DC and quite enjoyed it.
New Zealand – These cold-climate pinots are medium bodied, with yummy fruit and earthiness. They are often grown in the same regions as sauvignon blanc. Try the Kim Crawford.
Pinot noir’s typically high acidity, paired with its lighter body, makes it a perfect food wine. Someone once said it’s the black jeans of wine—it just goes with everything!
On that note, I’m off to have a glass of Pinot Noir to ponder this some more. Leave a comment if you have any other ideas as to why Pinot might be getting so much attention these days…
I hope 2016 is treating you well thus far. Have you tasted any good wines lately? I’m always looking for new wines to try, so please share in the comments!
Speaking of new wines, as I was doing some Facebook stalking perusing the other day, I came across an ad for the LCBO’s Customer Favourites of 2015.
Intrigued, I clicked on it, hoping that Ontario’s tastes would be in line with my own. According to the LCBO, here are the supposed fan favourites:
Best Italian Star: The Wanted Zin Old Vines Zinfandel (Italy)
Best Shiraz: Jacob’s Creek Double Barrel Shiraz (Australia)
Local Hero: Open Smooth White (Ontario)
I was shocked to see that I had never had any of the chosen wines. Not a single one! Was I missing out? Did the rest of Ontario know something I didn’t?? Obviously, I had to find out. Luckily, my local LCBO had 3 out of 4. I am still on the look-out for the shiraz, which is dwindling rapidly here in Ottawa.
Last night, I opened the Beronia Rioja, and here are my notes:
Colour: Deep ruby red
Aromas: Yummy: Black cherry, tobacco, chocolate, strawberry
Palate: Fairly fruit forward: tart cherry, strawberry at the outset, evolving into vanilla, liquorice (Google disapproves of my Canadian spelling, btw) and cedar.
Structure: Medium-bodied, medium tannins and high mouthwatering acidity – the perfect structure for food!
We paired this rioja with a hearty beef stew, and it was a hit! When a red wine has light–medium tannins and high acidity, it often pairs well with most foods, and this wine was no exception.
Conclusion: I think Ontario bought this in such large numbers precisely because it is such a food-friendly wine. On its own, the wine is so-so, but it goes really nicely with a wintery beef roast or stew. Also, is it just me or is there an aura of mystery surrounding Spanish wines? I feel like they tend to be lesser known wines that are often surprising in terms of their price-quality ratio. That said, I’m not sure I would buy this one again. But don’t take my word for it; that is simply a reflection of my personal preferences. Remember: wine tasting is an incredibly subjective venture, so I would encourage you to try this wine for yourself to see if you like it. Plus, it is $2 off until January 31, so at $13.95, now is the time!
Post-conclusion thoughts: I was asking myself why the category for this wine was “Most Surprising Twist”. The description in the article explains “This unusually barrel-fermented Tempranillo from Spain began as an experiment and turned into a commercial hit”. Is that it then? Was the surprising twist that it ended up selling so well? I think they need to hire better category creators.
Stay tuned. I’m sure I’ll be reviewing more so-called customer faves soon!
P.S. I also bought a bottle of the Beronia Rioja Reserva, which I think is this winemaker’s standard rioja (not the experimental version). I’ll let you know how it is!
Intrigued, I clicked on it, hoping that Ontario’s tastes would be in line with my own. 
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