For those of us on the West Coast who’ve been roasting the past week plus, all we can do is dream of the cool autumn nights, falling leaves, and patter of rain. It’s coming, and when it does I want us all to be ready with a perfect soul-warming, seductive, deeply complex bottle of red wine. Today’s Valpolicella Ripasso from the iconic Marco Speri is my top pick for that selection, whether you’re already ensconced in the fall weather or eagerly awaiting it. Bringing years of experience to the table, Marco has crafted a perfectly balanced wine that gets at the heart of Valpolicella–rich and spicy, with just the right “hint” of Amarone, and yet also vibrant, elegant, and deliciously complex. It’s ideal for that big fall feast (mushroom or truffle pasta please!), but also right at home with some cheese, charcuterie, and a roaring fire. It has just the right amount of bottle age, and it’s an incredible value . . . load up!
Secondo Marco is the passion project of Marco Speri, and the name essentially means “according to Marco.” His individual journey is intricately intertwined with Valpolicella in general: After decades of producing mostly insipid, light reds from vineyards and growers focused on quantity over quality, a few producers had the foresight in the late 1980s and 1990s to pivot their focus to what had been a local obscurity–essentially a “treat” to bring out during holidays and celebration–known as Amarone. Sure enough, the press and the wine cognoscenti of the time went gaga for it, and what was already a naturally concentrated, powerful wine became even more amped up and ever higher in octane. The Speri clan were among the early adopters, and with their seven generations of history they simply had to make a few small adjustments in order to capitalize on the newfound global interest in Valpolicella.
By the mid Aughts the Amarone explosion was hitting its peak, and it was just at this time that Marco Speri decided to leave his family’s eponymous estate and branch out on his own. In 2008 he founded Secondo Marco. The impetus was a desire to hit the reset button, and focus on grape growing and winemaking that would harkent to an era before the 100 point wines, before the post war industrial plonk, and all the way back to the types of wines that Marco’s ancestors would have prized.
It started with farming, as it should. Marco uses the traditional, and likely ancient practice of Pergoletta Veronese to train his vines, which allows for maximum airflow in order to reduce disease pressure, naturally keep yields low, and promote even ripening. It also has the added benefit of allowing Marco to farm entirely organically, using “green” manure and eschewing chemicals and modern interventions of any kind. Everything is done with the goal of capturing this unique terroir of limestone dominant soils that are bordered by Lake Garda to the west, the Dolomites to the north, and the Adriatic sea to the east.
Marco’s farming philosophy follows him into the cellar. There are no toasty, new French oak barriques here, just giant, Slavonian oak casks and a few steel and cement tanks for fermentation and natural filtration. The Ripasso is fermented with native yeasts in said tanks, then aged for 24 months in the same big casks that formerly housed his equally old-school and restrained Amarone. That “passing” the wine over the Amarone barrels lends Ripasso its name, and it adds a nice bit of depth and richness to the wine. But true to Marco’s style this 2017 is still more about fresh red and black berries, with just a very subtle hint of dried cherry and blueberry, along with whole bevy of spices and herbs–sage, clove, cinnamon, cedar, cocoa powder–and a nice pinch of blood orange zest. The medium-full body is now, at seven years and counting, perfectly balanced between sappy fruit, bright acidity, and softy, dusty tannins. Serve it at cellar temperature in a nice Bordeaux stem next to a plate of aged parmigiano and speck, or go all in with the below recipe for pasta with porcinis and sausage. Bring on the fall!
