Traditional wines
Ripasso Wine Tasting
Ripasso wine tasting at Venturini: how Amarone makes a second wine
Most people who visit Valpolicella know about Amarone. Fewer know that Amarone production creates a byproduct that gives life to a second wine. After the dried Amarone grapes are pressed and fermented, the leftover skins still contain colour, tannin, residual sugar and aromatic compounds. In the Ripasso method, a finished Valpolicella wine is passed over these fresh Amarone pomace and undergoes a second fermentation. The wine picks up extra body, a richer texture and more complexity without going through the full drying process itself. The result sits between a standard Valpolicella and an Amarone: more structured than the first, more approachable and less alcoholic than the second. At Venturini Massimino, this technique produces the “Semonte Alto” Ripasso della Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC, named after a specific cru vineyard in the heart of the Valpolicella Classica zone. The vines are about 20 years old, trained on traditional pergola systems at roughly 2,000 plants per hectare, and the grapes are the same native varieties used for all Venturini wines: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Molinara. The Semonte Alto Ripasso has consistently scored 90 points in Wine Enthusiast blind tastings across multiple vintages.
What you taste and why it matters
A Ripasso wine tasting at Venturini is included in the “Conosci la Valpolicella” (Discover Valpolicella) format: a two-hour guided session where you try 5 classic Valpolicella wines side by side, paired with a board of local cured meats and cheeses. The price is €25 per person, no minimum group size, with an optional catered dish for €10 extra.
The reason this format works well for understanding Ripasso is that you taste the wines in sequence. You start with the Valpolicella Classico, a lighter, fresh red fermented in stainless steel. Then you move to the Valpolicella Classico Superiore Campomasua, with a bit more structure. Then the Ripasso Semonte Alto. The jump is immediately obvious: the colour gets deeper, the aromas shift from bright cherry towards darker fruit, spice and chocolate, and the body fills out considerably. After the Ripasso, you taste the Amarone, and at that point you understand the whole chain, from fresh grape to dried grape, and exactly where Ripasso fits in the middle. You are comparing wines made from the same grape varieties, grown on the same hillsides, by the same family. The only variable is technique. That is what makes a Ripasso wine tasting at Venturini more informative than reading a wine textbook.
How to book your Ripasso wine tasting
The Venturini wine shop is at Via Semonte 20, San Pietro in Cariano (VR), a 20-minute drive from Verona centre. Tastings take place in the family’s tasting room, a few hundred metres from the production cellar at Via Olmi 9. The team speaks Italian and English.
You can book your Ripasso wine tasting through the form at viniventurini.com/degustazioni, by emailing info@viniventurini.com, or by calling +39 045 7701331. All tastings can be reserved as a gift. If you want to take bottles home after your visit or have them shipped, the winery sells directly and accepts PayPal. The Semonte Alto Ripasso is also available in magnum format, which makes it a good option if you are buying for a dinner or a special occasion.
