2020 Monte Zovo Valpolicella Ripasso versus Palazzo Maffei Amarone

2020 Monte Zovo Valpolicella Ripasso versus Palazzo Maffei Amarone 

We know that Ripasso is called poor-man Amarone or baby Amarone for a good reason. Ripasso is a dry red wine produced without ageing, while Amarone is produced by fermenting dried grapes and ageing them for two years. I took Monte Zovo, our flagship Ripasso which has won awards by a panel of judges, to compete against a full fledge Amarone, to see if it could stand up against the big brother. Upon the first whiff and sip, Amarone seemed to have caught my attention with bolder character and defensive poise. However, I did not rule out the fight based upon one sip. Both wines were decanted in equal amount of time. On the half hour mark, Ripasso took over the limelight with strong and powerful fruits. Ripasso stayed on the upper hand throughout my pizza dinner. As I could not spit fast enough for tonight’s dinner, I have some leftovers for the next day. Surprisingly, both wines held up very well, in fact so well that I could not tell which one was the Ripasso and which was the Amarone. I think Monte Zovo have put in a great effort to produce a very stunning Ripasso.