Notes of grilled game and tobacco balance this wine’s rich flavors of baked cherry, molten chocolate and licorice. Dark spices offset those flavors, and lively acidity cools the finish.

Packaged in a heavy glass bottle, the Tenuta Sant'Antonio 2018 Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso Monti Garbi is a mid-weight expression with a classic playlist of dried cherry and plum that segue to mild spice, tar and toasted chestnut. Ripasso is the quintessential midway wine between Valpolicella and Amarone, and its all-rounder appeal means it can pair with a wide variety of foods to enjoy in any informal occasion. The blend is 70% Corvina and Corvinone, 20% Rondinella, 5% Croatina and 5% Oseleta. It sees 12 months of oak aging.

“Named for their father and made from 70 percent Corvina and Corvinone, 20 percent Rondinella, five percent Croatina, and five percent Oseleta.  It is a fresh wine with aromas of red cherry and blackberry, with floral notes and a touch of maple syrup and licorice.  It has rich flavors of dark cherry, black plums with whispers of violets and roses, rich and smooth in the mouth.  The goal of the Castagnedi brothers is to make an Amarone to serve wine with food.  They suggest that it’s not important to have a big elaborate dish for this wine.  The balance of ripe fruit flavors, lively acidity, ripe tannins and alcohol makes it a great partner for a simple steak.”      
 

“Ripasso, or repassed, describes the process in which a dry Valpolicella wine that goes through a second fermentation with the skins and seeds of a recently fermented Amarone, made from dried grapes. It gives this wine its richness and dried fruit aromas.  It has a light ruby color with orange notes.  Fresh floral aromas, roses, savory sweet/sour flavors, crisp mouthwatering savory, saline cherry, strawberry fruit is intense and lively in the mouth, finishing with sturdy, yet smooth tannins.”    

“Campo dei Gigli is the name of the vineyard, and the grapes come from vines that are around 50 years old, the Castagnedi family’s oldest vines.  It is a limited production wine made only in the bast vintages.  It is fermented in open barrels with indigenous yeasts for 25 to 30 days, then the barrels are closed, skins included for 10 to 18 days.  Skins are removed, and the wine is transferred to new 500 liter French oak barrels.  This wine has a residual sugar of 8 grams per liter (.08 percent), so the wine is aged in Allier oak to contrast with residual sugar, giving the wine more vanilla.  Campo dei Gigli ages three years in new casks.  Layered flavors of dried cherries, plums, spice and leather combine with chalky tannins and a slight, pleasantly bitter note in the finish.”     
 

“This is a delightful wine with fresh spicy, floral aromas, juicy cherry, strawberry fruit, crisp acidity and ripe, integrated tannins.  The blend is 70% Corvina and 30% Rondinella from grapes selected from the winery’s youngest vines.  Fermented in temperature-controlled stainless for eight to ten days, it then spends six months in stainless steel on lees stirred weekly.  The closure is a glass stopper.  The goal of the producer was to rediscover the original style from 30 years ago or before.  Their aim is to “create a style, not necessarily strong or rich, but light with 12.5 alcohol.   A wine that is fruity and at the same time with some spicy notes, like pepper and a note like we have in our limestone soil.”  They did it. “

The 2018 Amarone della Valpolicella Antonio Castagnedi opens with a dusty mix of black currants and lavender offset by clove and mocha hints. This shows the lift and finesse of the vintage while imparting undeniable elegance as depths of ripe red fruits are offset by a bitter tinge of dark chocolate. The 2018 finishes structured with fine-grained tannins, licorice and inner violet florals.

Intense dried cranberry and steely blackcurrant on the nose. Balsamic, dried-herb and licoricy oak, too. Full and very concentrated on the palate with a focused, flavorful drive of spicy fruit and well-integrated tannins that pushes on and on. Tempting now, but best from 2023.