Community Tasting Note

bevetroppo Likes this wine:

Wednesday, March 8, 2023 - The descriptions of perricone from two magisterial and heavy tomes, Wine Grapes and Native Grapes of Italy, proved somewhat unsatisfying to me. I learned the varietal was nearly obliterated by phylloxera, and its small remnant production is often used in nero d'avola blends to add tannic support.

If this organic version of perricone is typical of a revival or a new wave, I'm all for it. The color is deep, impenetrable red. It's a wild and heady nose, casually tossing off ripe dark fruits, blueberries, cracked smoky pepper notes and black licorice. The body is medium but there's a satisfying sense of weight and depth even at a relatively modest 13.5%. Mouthcoating dry finish with a bitter, somewhat raw edge, perhaps an artifact of the grape's aforementioned tannic structure.

It's hard not to compare it to nero d'avola even if I don't have a glass in front of me to enable a more systematic appraisal. I almost never buy nero d'avola since I find so much to be jammy, fat and boring except when cut with the lively frappato in Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Here, the decisive finish makes at least this version more interesting to drink and potentially better with food. I'm a fan based on a "n" of 1, let's see some more.

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