LCBO Sale Wine of the Week: November 15

Villa Annaberta 2015 Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore (Veneto, Italy)

Sale $15.05, Regular $18.05
Discount (until November 26): $3.00
Vintages #378091 | 750 mL bottle

Tastes like: Sour cherry, plum, raisin, chocolate and vanilla. Sounds yum, right?
Pairs with: Big meats and stews, pretty much any autumnal fare. Think: ribeye, beef stew, shepherd’s pie, meatloaf, duck ragu, roasted quail.
Good for: Warming up! The wine is big, but not overwhelming. It will love you.
Alcohol: 14%
Drink: Now to 2020.

Why we're drinking this
Because winter is coming! You want a hefty, juicy, fruity dose of red wine to combat the elements. Even at $18 this wine is a good value, so knock three bucks off and it’s a steal. It’s made in the ripasso style, a technique that adds depth and dimension to wine. On the most basic level, it involves the addition of the unpressed skins of grapes used in the fermentation of Amarone and Recioto wines—which are made entirely with grapes that have been dried or “raisined”—to a basic Valpolicella wine, which is then re-fermented. This adds flavour, alcohol, tannins and body. Crazy. But good.

Tasting note
Take a look at this wine and notice right away the colour. It’s garnet-brown at the rim, an indication of age or oxidation. But this wine is only 2 years old… that’s the ripasso process showing itself. You make a wine with raisins, and you get a pre-aged wine! But the wine is still fresh and fruity on the nose, with lots of sour cherry, cranberry and fresh herbs. There’s a funky edge, like damp earth, a bit of barn. And, there’s raisins and fig. The palate is more sour cherry, plum, wild berries and warming alcohol (14%), but it’s all well balanced. Some chocolate and leather. There’s a nice woody quality, like chewing a twig. It’s a vibrant wine with heft. Really good. Try with beefy things, wild boar, tomato ragu. That sort of northern Italian thing.

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This week's selection by kwäf Taste Bud Dick Snyder