Accordini Igino, Valpolicella Ripasso Classico Superiore 2009 (about $25)
Italian Wine for January, 2017
Accordini Igino is a family-owned winery located in the hills outside Verona in the Valpolicella Classico zone. While the Accordini family has cultivated grapes and produced wines since the early 1800’s, it wasn’t until the late 1970’s that they began to produce and sell wines under their own label. At about the same time they also initiated a vigorous program to expand and modernize the estate’s wine-making facilities as well as acquire additional vineyard properties. Today the Accordini winery owns approximately 86 acres and can boast of a modern, up-to-date winery where they produce about a half-dozen wines including some highly regarded Amarone and Valpolicella Ripasso wines.
Like other Ripasso wines, Accordini’s newly-pressed Valpolicella wine is decanted on – or “passed over” - the fresh pomace (leftover grape skins and lees)of the estate’s recently-fermented Amarone, a process that imparts a
dditional structure and concentration to the Valpolicella wine. This process also induces a second fermentation that increases the wine’s alcoholic content. The Valpolicella Ripasso is then aged for 24 months in a combination of large and small oak barrels before bottling and release for sale.
This wine is a real winner – medium to full-bodied, rich, soft and complex with an intense bouquet and plenty of ripe black berry and cherry fruit flavors. The wine clocks in with 15 percent alcohol but it has sufficient acidity to keep the flavors juicy and the wine nicely balanced. While very drinkable now the wine will age well for another 5 to 10 years.
The ’09 Accordini Ripasso Superiore pairs well with full-flavored pasta and risotto dishes, stews, meatball dishes, semi-hard and hard cheeses and whatever’s on the barbeque grill.
©Richard Marcis
January 8, 2017
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