Tenuta Sant’Antonio’s Valpolicella Ripasso Monte Garbi comes from the village of Mezzane in the eastern Valpolicella, where the soil is sandy and silty with many white limestone. The vineyards are located in Monte Garbi at 300 m above sea level in a relatively warm area that produces well structured wines. Furthermore, the vineyards of Tenuta Sant’Antonio have a particularly high planting density (8000 plants per hectare) which turns into very concentrated grapes.
Valpolicella Ripasso is a clever invention of Valpolicella producers who use the pomace of dried grapes used to make wines such as Amarone and Recioto to reinforce a young Valpolicella wine.
The wine making begins with the fermentation of the hand-picked grapes with a maceration of 8 days. The wine remains in the steel vats until the Amarone della Vapolicella is drawn off. Then the wine undergoes a second maceration with the wet skins of the Amarone, which contain enough sugar to determine a second fermentation.
In this way the wine acquires a higher alcohol level, fuller body and new aromas, typical of dried grapes. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and ages one year in French oak tonneau of which 30% are new.