Sunday, April 5, 2009

Valpantena 2000 Falasco Valpolicella Ripasso (Italy)

Sunday, a day of rest and relaxation. Sunday, a day to put your feet up without a care in the world. Sunday, a day to pull out a special bottle to sip and savour; hence, this bottle for Falasco Valpolicella Ripasso. I am sure plenty of folks out there will ask, what are you having for dinner to accompany this Italian Stallione? And to you I answer - I have absolutely no idea, I have decide to get some edamame (Japanese soy bean appetizer) out of the freezer, nuke as per the directions and enjoy, hope the wine goes ... it ain't half bad. I opened the wine an hour before I decided on the Japanese treat ... my first smell and taste of the wine was somewhat pruny with hints of spice and very little else happening, so I thought that decanting it might be in order. I filtered (with a wire-mess strainer) and decanted it into a wide bottomed decanter. I looked at the bottle and noticed lots of fine grit, this also appeared in the glass (it was grit so fine even the filter couldn't get it). After about half and hour this wine started to show very well, the nose turned from pruny to black fruit (blackberry and plum) - and the palate improved too ... sure there was apparent age here with some forest floor and dried black fruit, but there was also a touch of tannin dryness and this wine really opened up appreciatively over the next hour. It certainly did hit the spot and was very nice for a layabout type of Sunday (which this wasn't, so it made the wine hit "the spot" even better).


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