One of my favorite wines year in and year out is the Ripasso-styled Veronese wine from Zenato (Ripasso wines are Valpolicellas that are put through the Amarone racks after those grapes are dried). Having had several vintages, my initial though is that the 2005 Zenato Ripassa may be one of the best of the past few years. This wine is holding nothing back from the first pour - a great nose, and plenty of fruit right from the start. There's also plenty of stuffing here, with some tannins and complexity to suggest that this wine will hold up for a few years.
I always try to put at least one bottle from each good vintage away for a few years and have found that these wines can age well for 4-5 years with no problem. The 2005 should be no different, and in my opinion could even improve with a year or two of bottle aging. One caveat I will give - I drank this wine much more regularly when it was $16 or so, but over the past 2-3 years the price has jumped quite dramatically in most stores. It often now sells for $25 or more, a price point that I find hard to take. The 2005 vintage may be good enough to justify that price, but there are other good ripasso-styled wines for much less. If you can find this wine for under $20, then it's still a great value. I have been able to still find a couple of places that will sell it for this price, and that's when I make sure to pick up some.
Oh, and one other note to pass along from last week - I had another bottle of the 2004 Rubrato from Feudi di San Gregorio and it was consistent with my prior notes from June.
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