Tommaso Bussola 2015 'TB' Valpolicella Classico Ripasso Superiore DOC

Tommaso Bussola 2015 'TB' Valpolicella Classico Ripasso Superiore DOC

Item Number: 15530

UPC: 0-811062000163

Country: Italy
Region: Veneto
Sub Region: Valpolicella
Appellation/AVA: Valpolicella Classico Ripasso Superiore DOC
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Vintage: 2015
Grape(s): 55% Corvina / 40% Corvinone / 5% Rondinella
Type: Wine - Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Pack: 12
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 15
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Soil Type: Toar (basalt) and chalky gravel
Elevation: 280-450 meters

The TB selections are Tommaso's finest wines, made from a ruthless selection only when nature allows. While the Amarone and Recioto enjoy greater renown, this 100% Ripasso wine may be Tommaso's greatest achievement.

Winemaking Notes: The grapes to produce Valpolicella Classico Superiore are picked and selected the first and second week of October. 50% of the grapes is immediately pressed in truncated cone oak vats where fermentation with indigenous yeast starts after 2 days of maceration. The must stays with its skins for about 18 days, during which several pump overs are performed. It is then racked off and left in a steel tank for 3 months. The other 50% of the grapes is left to dry in plastic plateaux for 3 months and then pressed. Fermentation starts immediately with indigenous yeast and after 10 days the Valpolicella Classico produced in October with the first 50% of the grapes is added. In the following 30 days, while the wine ferments, several pump overs and delestage for the skins submersion are performed again. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is racked off in steel tank to decant for 10 days. Finally, the wine is racked off again to wooden barrels to finish its aging. Total Aging equals 42 months (32 months in 700-liter new barrels and 10 months in 75-hectoliter barrels).

History: The self-taught Bussola took over his uncle’s domaine in 1985. He aims to make the best normale wines possible in each vintage. In many years, he is also able to make limited quantities of his elite TB line, selected from the best grapes at harvest.

Ancient Clones: The key, we think, is not only the age of his vines but the fact that they are nearly all naturally low-yielding ancient clones: Corvinone (40%), Corvina Grossa (55%) and Rondinella (5%). Corvinone, in particular, is quite rare today because of its low yields and finicky growing habits. Yet, Tommaso claims it is the Corvinone that gives his wines their depth. He calls it the “Super Corvina,” saying that it produces stronger, denser, richer, more perfumed wines.

93pts (2016 Vintage) Vinous 4/14/2022
"The 2016 Valpolicella CLassico Superiore TB is sweetly seductive with minty herbs, medicinal cherries and hints of clove. This is a deeply textural yet cool-toned and remarkably pretty style of Valpolicella TB, with tart red fruits, minerals, cocoa, spice and touches of vanillin oak toward the close. It's long and only lightly structured, opulent in taste, but totally classic in feel. The 2016 is a gorgeous vintage for the Tommaso Bussola Valpolicella TB."


92pts (2016 Vintage) Wine Spectator 3/31/2023
"This medium- to full-bodied red is silky and harmonious, seamlessly knitting fine tannins with lightly juicy acidity and a pure beam of flavors, including black cherry, medicinal herbs, graphite, milled white pepper and sambuca blooms, followed by a long, spiced finish."


Label Notes: Bussola uses the word "superiore" on the label to indicate that the TB Valpolicella is a ripasso. Years ago, Masi was claiming that it had a trademark on the word ripasso and other growers—including Quintarelli and Dal Forno—used "superiore" as code. (Even though it only legally means that the alcohol is 1% higher.) They’ve stuck with the label for 20 years, which is why the Bussola label does not say the words ripasso.

Reviews

  • The Wine Advocate
    Rating: 90 (10/5/2023)

    Showing a pretty dark garnet hue, the Bussola 2015 Valpolicella Classico Superiore TB has ripe fruit aromas that border on candied cherry or blackberry confit. This was a sun-drenched vintage across Italy, so that extra ripeness comes as no surprise. The bouquet opens nicely to nutmeg and allspice, with a hint of cracked black pepper.