Tommasi 2004 Ripasso

[anacostiakat]

Well I am having meatball sammiches tonight. So I decide to have something Eye-talian.:-D

I used to buy the Zenato 2001 Ripassa occasionally and decided to pick this 2004 bottle up at about $25.00 USD.

Decided to smoke an '00 RyJ Churchie with it.

Let the bottle breath for not quite an hour and the word that comes to mind is "soft" for this wine. Very dark inky pour with some plum and blackberries on the palate and in the nose. But very little tannin and acid.

The Churchill was a little bit of a slow starter but very refined. A complex cigar as usual!

I do not find these as strong as some do. But it did build as I spent time with it and the vino. That RyJ classic twang coming and going.

For the wine. If you are on a budget and want to get some of the Amarone flavor then these are well worth checking out I think.

[El Presidente]

Ken is back from a weeks fishing and drinking so I am sure he would like to comment on his preferred "budget" fishing wines ($100-$500)

[Ken Gargett]

few years since i have seen a tommasi but they have always superb wines.

got through quit a few wins at fraser island though far too few within rob's parameters.

did have a small problem one day. after a few brekkie beers, post fishing (and there were no fish), four or five of us knocked off about four bottles of good fizz then i made some 'fraser island mojitos'. missing some ingredients but made do. lot of mint, quit a few limes, all squeezed and tossed in together; bit of sugar and then a bottle of dark rum from jamaica. and ice. stir hard and pour. as the amount diminishes, slowly add a bottle of bacardi. so four of us knocked that off. even if there had been fish, don't think we would have depleted their number that evening.