Corte Majoli, Valpolicella Ripasso 2022

Fairly full bodied, with fragrant aromas (cherry, spice), firm structure, and a tangy palate of red berries, dark chocolate and herbs. Dry, savoury and satisfying.

Its warm power just blossoms on the palate—make sure to open it well in advance. This wine is aged for twelve months in oak and six in bottle prior to release, and it goes down a treat with pizza, casseroles and strong cheeses.

Ripasso is an Italian term meaning 're-passed', for the technique of adding extra body, flavour and alcohol to Valpolicella by refermenting the young wine on the skins of Amarone wines after these dried-grape wines have finished their fermentation in the spring.

Ripasso-style wines are hugely popular with today's wine drinkers.

The Guardian: Top 10 of Italy's Valpolicella wine route

The Tezza family's 25-hectare estate is just outside the historic heart of Valpolicella in the sheltered microclimate of the Valpantena valley. Their cantina is an intriguing mix of modern and traditional, with ancient cement cisterns alongside gleaming steel vats and giant oak casks. Some of the vines are planted in the classic pergola method, where the grapes hang high, protected from both sun and humidity, while the rest have been converted to the much lower French guyot system, which is tantamount to heresy for old-fashioned winemakers. The three Tezza brothers began their winery in 1965, and now it is run by their three sons, Flavio, Vanio and Federico. Vanio says: "We are against the present trend of a dolce Valpolicella and Amarone, which many winemakers seem to think the market wants, and we prefer to produce wines to our own principles, with plenty of tannin to age well, and drier."

John Brunton, The Guardian, 4 April 2013