Italy
Since 1907 the Campagnola family has managed this winery located in Valgatara di Marano, the heart of the Classic Valpolicella viticultural area. Valpolicella is one of the better known wine regions of Italy, near the City of Verona in the North of the country
The wine is a combination of 80 % Corvina and 20% Rondinella made in the Ripasso Style. Ripasso is a relatively new style of wine in Italy (first released to the market in 1980) and is a really fascinating and cool way of making wine. Basically it uses the left over grape skins, from the best fruit of the vintage, to make their basic wine a hell of a lot more interesting. In this technique, the leftover grape skins and seeds from the fermentation of Amarone are added to the batch of Valpolicella wines for a period of extended maceration.
This re-fermentation process (Ripasso, or passed over) gives the wine greater structure, colour, flavor and weight. (We have gone into a bit of detail on Ripasso and Amarone in another part of the newsletter)
The wine is then aged in a combination of new and old oak barrels for 12 months followed by 6 months in the bottle prior to release. It is a full- bodied, juicy red, brimming with aromas and flavours of black cherry, mixed berries, plum and pepper. A velvety texture, gentle tannins and a long finish will make you want to open a second bottle.