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Bertani
A Valpantena red from Bertani, who have made wine in this valley since 1857. The young Valpolicella is fermented again on drained Amarone skins, which brings cherry, chocolate and a warm savoury finish. Good with ragu, roasts and aged cheese.
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Bertani grow this wine in the Valpantena, then ferment it a second time on the drained skins of their own Amarone. That second pass is where the cherry, the chocolate and the warmth come from.
Bertani's own note leads on cherry and undergrowth, with spice and chocolate behind it. The 119 Vivino reviewers who wrote about this wine agree: red fruit is far and away the note they mention most, ahead of oak, vanilla and tobacco. The Italian merchant Callmewine picks out clove in the same glass.
Black cherry
Cherry
Plum
Raspberry
Tobacco
Forest Floor
Spicy
ChocolateThe feel in the mouth is the whole point of a ripasso. Bertani start the young wine fermenting again in January or February, on skins drained from their own Amarone, and it comes back fuller and warmer. The tannin grips without drying, and a savoury, almost salty edge runs behind the fruit.
Decanter's James Button gave the 2020 vintage 92 points and found chocolate on a long finish. Bertani put that same chocolate note in their own tasting sheet.
Vivino's 4,278 raters give it 3.9 out of 5, and they rate the 2022 higher still, inside the top 3% of all wines on the site. It is a warm, meaty everyday red that costs about half what Bertani's Amarone from the same valley does.
Two fermentations instead of one, a spell in big casks, and a rule that blocks any sale before January of the second year after picking. All of that lands in the shelf price.
Vivino's 4,278 raters put it at 3.9 out of 5, and their most common note is plain ripe cherry. It is a midweek red that can still hold a Sunday roast.
Medium-bodied and savoury with real acidity behind the warmth, so it copes with ragu, roasts, mushrooms and aged cheese. Bertani's own food list runs to five different dishes.
Warm, fruity and soft-edged, with cherry and chocolate as the main notes. Vivino's most-mentioned note is simply red fruit. There is no sharp tannin and nothing odd to get used to.
UK shops list it at £18.20 to £26, against £39 and up for Bertani's Amarone from the same valley. Vivino's 4,278 raters give it 3.9 out of 5, which is strong for the money.
It drinks well the day you buy it. Give it twenty minutes in a big glass and it is ready. At £18.20 to £26 it is a midweek bottle for a good dinner rather than the cheapest weeknight red.
A well-known Verona name and a proper Ripasso, but a DOC rather than one of Italy's top-tier reds. Right for a good dinner at home, a step below Bertani's Amarone for a big night.
It holds well, but it is not a wine to hide away. Decanter gave the 2020 until 2032, while the DOC rules ask for no cask ageing at all, only a delayed release.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Valpolicella Ripasso denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
2022 was hot and dry until August rain rescued it, and Vivino drinkers rate it the best recent year for this wine. 2023 was wetter and much harder work in the vineyard, and the wine came out fresher and lighter.
A wet, difficult season with heavy mildew pressure and a crop about 5% smaller, picked from 13 September. The wine came out fresher and lighter than the 2022, and Vivino drinkers score it a little lower at 3.7.
A hot, dry summer that August rain rescued, with picking about a fortnight early and clean, healthy fruit. Vivino drinkers rate it the best recent year for this wine, 4.0 out of 5 from 521 ratings.
A wet, difficult season with heavy mildew pressure and a crop about 5% smaller, picked from 13 September. The wine came out fresher and lighter than the 2022, and Vivino drinkers score it a little lower at 3.7.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Ripasso only exists because Amarone does. The rules let a producer make at most twice as much Ripasso as the wine that came off the Amarone skins they used.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Valpolicella Ripasso is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Valpolicella Ripasso falls within Veneto, covering The zone covers 19 towns around Verona under three names: Classico for the five western valleys, Valpantena for the valley north-east of the city, and Valpolicella for the rest. No bottle is sold before January of the second year after picking..
Wine route
Half day · 5 stops
Open the driveWine route
1 day · 7 stops
Open the driveMade at Bertani, Arbizzano di Negrar.
Wine routes in the zone: Valpolicella Classico Loop, Strada del Vino Soave.
The rules let a producer bottle at most twice as much Ripasso as the wine that came off the Amarone skins they used. Bertani use skins from their own Amarone Valpantena, a bottle that starts at £39 in the shops we track against £18.20 here.
Bertani ferment the young Valpolicella in autumn, then start it again in January or February on the drained Amarone skins. That is two rounds of work and two spells of tank time for a single wine.
The wine rests in big wooden casks and concrete vats, then three months in bottle. The DOC also blocks any sale before 1 January of the second year after picking, so the producer waits over a year to be paid.
At 13.5% alcohol, UK duty is £3.10 a bottle, and 20 per cent VAT sits on top. On the cheapest bottle we track, £18.20, that is close to £6.10 gone before the wine, the glass or the shipping.
The fruit comes from the Valpantena, one of Valpolicella's three named zones and the cheaper one on UK shelves. Bertani's own Ripasso from the Classico zone, Catullo, lists at £29 to £37 against £18.20 to £26 here. Their cellar has stood in this valley since 1857.
Valpolicella filled 59 million bottles in 2024 and nearly half of them were Ripasso. That scale is why a wine made twice over still costs £18.20 to £26 here, while Bertani's Amarone from the same valley starts at £39.
Dishes that go with this wine
Bertani point this wine at porcini risotto, pasta with meat sauce, grilled meat and medium-aged cheese. The warm, savoury finish is what makes those work.
A ragu that has sat on the stove for hours turns rich and a little heavy. This Valpolicella Ripasso, a medium-bodied red from the hills above Verona, has the acidity to cut back through it and enough dark cherry fruit to sit beside the meat. Bertani name pasta with ragu on their own food list.
Try with: Ragu alla bolognese · Lasagna · Agnello Ragu Lucano · More pairings →
Mushrooms bring an earthy, woodland smell to the plate, and this wine already carries one. Bertani describe undergrowth on the nose, and Vivino drinkers log earthy and mushroom notes too. Put the two together and each one gets deeper. Porcini risotto is first on Bertani's own list.
Try with: Porcini mushroom risotto · Truffle risotto · Radicchio risotto · More pairings →
Fat and protein from a rare joint soften the grip of a tannic red, so the wine tastes rounder next to meat than it does alone. This Ripasso is warm and meaty enough to keep up, which is why Bertani list roasts and grilled meat. It is a medium-bodied Italian red, not a heavyweight.
Try with: Sunday Roast Beef · Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce · Beef wellington · More pairings →
A stew that has cooked all afternoon needs a wine with some weight, or the wine simply disappears. Ripasso picks up body and warmth from that second fermentation on Amarone skins, so it meets the dish instead of hiding under it. Vivino drinkers most often reach for beef, veal and venison here.
Try with: Beef stew · Venison Stew · Roast pork · More pairings →
Salt in an aged cheese makes a red taste softer and fruitier, and the cheese loses its sharp edge in return. Bertani suggest medium-aged cheese for exactly that reason. Stop short of the very old, crumbly ones, which will outgun a medium-bodied red like this.
Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Cheese board · Strong cheddar cheese
Chilli heat feeds on alcohol and tannin, and at 13.5% this wine has plenty of both. The burn gets louder and the fruit vanishes. Pour something soft and low in tannin instead, such as Bardolino, the light, juicy red grown just west of here beside Lake Garda.
Skip with: Pizza Diavola · Crispy chilli beef · Szechuan beef · Pairing guide →
Decanter gave the 2020 a window out to 2032. The Italian merchant Callmewine puts it more simply: drink it now, or leave it five years and it will still be good.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
It holds well, but it is not a wine to hide away. Decanter gave the 2020 until 2032, while the DOC rules ask for no cask ageing at all, only a delayed release.
£21.00 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 13 Sep 2026, 00:22 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumIt means the young wine was fermented a second time on the skins left over from Amarone. Bertani do this in January or February, using skins from their own Amarone made in the same valley. The wine comes back fuller, warmer and darker than a plain Valpolicella.
Yes. The DOC rules block any sale before 1 January of the second year after picking, so every bottle in the shops has already had time to settle. Decanter gave the 2020 a drinking window out to 2032, so a bottle you keep will hold.
Pasta with meat sauce, porcini risotto, grilled meat, roasts and medium-aged cheese. That is Bertani's own list. Vivino drinkers reach for much the same, mostly beef, veal and game.
It is a valley just north of Verona, running up into the Lessini hills, and one of the three named zones of Valpolicella. Bertani's cellar has stood there since 1857. The soil mixes clay and limestone with old volcanic rock.
Amarone is made from grapes dried for months before pressing. Ripasso is an ordinary Valpolicella given a second fermentation on those dried skins, once the Amarone has been drawn off. It also costs a lot less: £18.20 to £26 here against £39 and up for Bertani's Amarone from the same valley.
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