Time for a rest...on lees.

Le Ragose Valpolicella Ripasso 2007 $24.99  

Located near Verona, the Valpolicella D.O.C. is one of the world's oldest wine regions, dating back to ancient Greece.  Valpolicella Ripasso is one of the classic wines of Italy, made with partially dried grape skins that have been used in the fermentation of Amarone.  Sometimes referred to as "baby Amarone", a good Valpolicella Ripasso will have the dried-fruit undertones of Amarone balanced with brighter cherry and brisk acidity.

This week's wine from Le Ragose is hands-down the best Ripasso we've ever tried, with dark cherries, earthiness, tobacco, spices and leather with gorgeous inner sweetness and depth.  It goes with everything from spicy tomato sauce to braised short ribs, and it's one of our favorite wines in the store.

Le Ragose was abandoned when it was purchased in 1969 by winemaker Arnaldo Galli, and he painstakingly restored the hillside vineyards over many years, believing that his site was far superior to those in the flat valley land.  Arnaldo is now joined by his sons Paolo and Marco, who make the wines in a very traditional style. 

For you wine geeks, the fruit is hand-picked and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks with indigenous yeasts for 12-14 days, then re-fermented for 7 days in March on the lees of the Amarone using the "Ripasso" method.  The Amarone lees and skins contain sugars and re-fermentation absorbs about 10% of Amarone, giving the wine more aromatic complexity while maintaining Valpolicella’s lighter mouthfeel.  The wine ages one year in steel, two years in 25-hectoliter Slavonian oak casks and rests in bottle for one year before release.