60 minute decant. Dark purple color with an almost iridescent rim. Juicy nose of red fruits and orange with spruce and cedar notes. Palate delivers a mix of bright cherry, darker red fruits, and lots of damp earth. Smoke, oak, and beef jerky on the palate with red plum and notes of red bell pepper following.
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Wow, what an exceptional wine for $34. First bottle of a half case, and it delivered spectacularly at 8 years of age. This is all about terroir, not extracted juicy fruit. In particular, it reminds me of Irish peat from our year living there. It looks and smells of it. Blackberry is the main fruit. Plus tar, moist soil, maybe a bit of pure cacao. I thought it tasted great fresh from bottle opening in a raw, rough way. After two hours, it was smooth and rich. Enjoyed the full evolution. This will surely last another decade or more, but I warmly encourage anyone with multiple bottles not to hesitate to enjoy some now.
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opened at 6:30, small glass, big, juicy. Decanted set aside for about 2 hr, certainly too young, even with decanting. This needs time to come around. Wasn’t too exciting at this point, may have missed it initially during the decant.
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(at Cosima - Baltimore) I’ve always liked these wines. This is no exception. Black cherry and lots of minerals. Youthful and fun and absolutely drinkable. Though I think 5 to 7 years of aging will be beneficial. Versatile, juicy and fun. Excellent restaurant selection. (92)
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Decanted 30 min. Red berries, allspice, good structure, very refreshing, grippy tannins. Very good and maybe a little young. Try next one in 2-3 years.
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Opened and let decant in bottle for a few hours. Wonderful wine, still very youthful and fairly tight, has longevity. Bright/high acid; tart fresh red fruit, halfway to a pucker; layers of tar, dried savory herb, sharp finish. Paired very well with a classic beef/pork lasagna, cut right through the heavier, savory, red-sauce and fatty cheeses.
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Absolutely delicious. Served with waygu tenderloin that complimented it perfectly. How? Solid backbone of tannic yet dark fruit with a slight pepper aftertaste. Just perfect. Definitely a food wine, drink now. Cheers.
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Peppery, vegetal aroma with a palate dominated by tannin and acidity. I like the feral intensity and promise here but this needs to sleep for a few years at least.
Edit- after 48 hours a lot of the vegetal funk blew off and this was much more enjoyable.
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Plum and camphor on the nose. On the palate, black cherry, cassis, and blackberry, with notes of olive tapenade, bitter ash, and earth on the medium to long finish, with strong tannins and strong acidity. This was a very good value at about $40.
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Excellent producer in an excellent vintage. Drinks well now, but tannins will further resolve, and the wine will improve.Copius fruit and good acidity. Well balanced.
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Critiquing the 2nd day after opening, what a delight. Follow the recommendations here for when to pop and enjoy, and wait 3-4 years, otherwise highly recommend pouting a glass Day 1 and then drinking the rest Day 2. Cheers!
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Very powerful, masculine, robust...add your adjective. A tannin-driven dark wine with firm backbone. A very good effort from a respected vintner but I would give it 3-4 more years to mellow. A wonderful cellared wine. Cheers.
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Decanted the bottle for 60 minutes or so before tasting. Great wine and a perfect representation of Taurino. Still, a young wine has much more to give, but it opened up very nicely. Aromas of chocolate and tar and a slight hint of cigar. flavors of plum and dark cherry and silk. Tannins were strong at first but they settle nicely giving the wine a nice silky body with a really long finish. Great complexity. I recommend holding for a couple of years it will be a great wine
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The 2015 Radici is opaque medium to deep ruby in color with deep garnet variation near the rim. I gave this a couple hours to open up, allowing the nose to blossom into aromas of black cherry, ripe plum, strawberry, licorice, game, dusty dried earth, crushed rock, cedar, chocolate, and cracked pepper. Once in the mouth, the wine displays notes of blackberry, black raspberry, cassis, anise, violet, tobacco, loamy soil, granite, coffee grounds, smoke, mild vanilla, and rocky mineral. This is medium- to full-bodied with medium (+) acidity, high tannins, and a long finish. Drinks with remarkable depth, complexity, and character now but will only be better in five years and beyond.
100% Aglianico; 13.5% ABV
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We've entered the sixteenth wine region on our north to south tour of the Italian wine regions. My family came from Campagnia to America in the wave of Italian immigrants in the 20th Century. Taurasi, meaning roots, reflects the beginnings of this wine as well as that of my family.
Deep purple Aglianico in the glass. A nose of chocolate, blackberry and plum. In the mouth, notes of cedar, licorice and anise. Aglicanico reminds me of Zinfandel in its sweet, rustic earthiness.
What this wine lacks in elegance it more than makes up for in its vitality. Appreciate for what it is rather than what it is not.
Deep purple color. Fragrant floral nose. Medium body. Flavors of blackberry, blueberry, and tobacco. The wine has pronounced tannins that will allow for many years of aging, but has a juiciness that gives pleasure now with a good hour decant. Great balance and structure. Lovely wine that punches well above its weight.
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A fabulous representation of Aglianico as a cultivar, wonderful aromas of violets and raspberries, elegant and refined a wine with soul. One can certainly taste the resemblance to a Barolo, great with food.
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On a family vacation in Italy we visited some relatives of my wife's somewhere near Taurasi. It was a modest single level home that sat on the edge of a small valley. I'm not even sure what direction the backyard faced, but when you looked you could see a vineyard (no big surprise) on the opposite slope of the valley and a large building at the top of the rise. It could have been a winery although it was too far away to tell, but one of the relatives just pointed and said "Mastroberadino."
That one word is a mouthful for lovers of aglianico, as the family has assiduously advanced and guarded the reputation of Taurasi like no other. Even our relatives, who could not have otherwise cared less about the wine, knew it was something special.
And so it is. A beautiful ruby red color, translucent and certainly not opaque. Heady nose of dark red and black fruits, full and ripe but not jammy in the least, with smoked meat and volcanic overtones. The fruit aromas are penetrating and juicy, surprisingly perhaps with enough acid to set my mouth a-watering. Rich and elegant on the palate at the same time, with some subdued oak providing a feather bed for the otherwise badass aglianico tannins. The fruit is attractive already but understandably still somewhat straight-jacketed by its youth, on a lengthy and balanced finish.
What I like most about this is the harnessed power and restraint, in what could easily have been a runaway fruit bomb. It needs/deserves the honor of substantial decanting time now and will improve easily over a decade or more. 13.5% alcohol. If there's such as thing as a Barolo of the South, this is a legitimate contender.
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For me, this is an unmistakably "great" wine. It made me wonder why I immediately have that conviction and whether it's just personal preference.
The aromas are strong, complex, and (importantly) dominated by things other than fruit. I smell tar, melted licorice, black olive, ripe plum, bramble fruit, and roasted curry leaves.
I also love the balance on the palate and the complexity of the mouthfeel. Lots of mouth-coating ripe fruit weight with plenty of acidity to keep it lively and roasted herbs to cut through it all, with big, but not abrasive, mouth-drying tannins on the finish.
Ultimately, it doesn't have quite enough concentration to warrant 95+ for me.
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This bottle exhibited none of the usual typicity - rough edges, uncompromising tannins, earth, smoke, bramble; instead, it was flat, giving no suggestion of the power one expects from an aglianico.
I think the wine has gone to sleep, and I will leave my other bottles in the cellar for some time.
Unrated.
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Deep and dark color. Brilliantly fresh. Compact rim. Youthful.
Aromatics is of dark-skinned fruits and savory notes. Blackcurrant, black olive, bay leave, cured meat.
On the palate, it is quite expressive with little or no decanting air. Firm and finely dusty. Medium body and dry. The fruit profile is pronounced and lively. This shows plenty of crunched red cherry, cranberry. Mineral and saline. Spiced up nicely as well. Clean but lengthy fruit-forwarded finish.
Lively and crunchy are two adjectives popping into mind while drinking this wine. Somehow, it reminds me of structured cru Beaujolais, particularly Morgon. This is drinkable now with an upside I think, though I am inexperienced in this department to predict its future potential. 89 (+?)
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4/7/2024 - Ruubious wrote:
Decanted and drank over 3hr, most fragrant and lovey in the first half.
Certainly has plenty of years ahead
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12/1/2023 - VAGenius Likes this wine: 92 Points
60 minute decant. Dark purple color with an almost iridescent rim. Juicy nose of red fruits and orange with spruce and cedar notes. Palate delivers a mix of bright cherry, darker red fruits, and lots of damp earth. Smoke, oak, and beef jerky on the palate with red plum and notes of red bell pepper following.
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8/22/2023 - Montesquieu Likes this wine: 94 Points
Wow, what an exceptional wine for $34. First bottle of a half case, and it delivered spectacularly at 8 years of age. This is all about terroir, not extracted juicy fruit. In particular, it reminds me of Irish peat from our year living there. It looks and smells of it. Blackberry is the main fruit. Plus tar, moist soil, maybe a bit of pure cacao. I thought it tasted great fresh from bottle opening in a raw, rough way. After two hours, it was smooth and rich. Enjoyed the full evolution. This will surely last another decade or more, but I warmly encourage anyone with multiple bottles not to hesitate to enjoy some now.
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1/14/2023 - Ruubious wrote:
opened at 6:30, small glass, big, juicy. Decanted set aside for about 2 hr, certainly too young, even with decanting. This needs time to come around. Wasn’t too exciting at this point, may have missed it initially during the decant.
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5/6/2022 - dbkitc wrote: 92 Points
(at Cosima - Baltimore) I’ve always liked these wines. This is no exception. Black cherry and lots of minerals. Youthful and fun and absolutely drinkable. Though I think 5 to 7 years of aging will be beneficial. Versatile, juicy and fun. Excellent restaurant selection. (92)
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3/3/2022 - kim@meko.ru Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted 30 min. Red berries, allspice, good structure, very refreshing, grippy tannins. Very good and maybe a little young. Try next one in 2-3 years.
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11/14/2021 - vintage_whine wrote:
Bright red fruit, tannins resolved, early maturing wine.
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11/12/2021 - Vindicator Likes this wine:
I respectfully disagree with the 2019-2024 drinking window suggested in the Ian D'Agata note in Vinous. Won't touch my next one for 10 years.
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11/4/2021 - dlowrey99 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Opened and let decant in bottle for a few hours. Wonderful wine, still very youthful and fairly tight, has longevity. Bright/high acid; tart fresh red fruit, halfway to a pucker; layers of tar, dried savory herb, sharp finish. Paired very well with a classic beef/pork lasagna, cut right through the heavier, savory, red-sauce and fatty cheeses.
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10/3/2021 - Escher Cellars wrote: 95 Points
Absolutely delicious. Served with waygu tenderloin that complimented it perfectly. How? Solid backbone of tannic yet dark fruit with a slight pepper aftertaste. Just perfect. Definitely a food wine, drink now. Cheers.
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7/30/2021 - BillBell73 Likes this wine:
Peppery, vegetal aroma with a palate dominated by tannin and acidity. I like the feral intensity and promise here but this needs to sleep for a few years at least.
Edit- after 48 hours a lot of the vegetal funk blew off and this was much more enjoyable.
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6/4/2021 - RichardP wrote: 92 Points
Plum and camphor on the nose. On the palate, black cherry, cassis, and blackberry, with notes of olive tapenade, bitter ash, and earth on the medium to long finish, with strong tannins and strong acidity. This was a very good value at about $40.
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5/17/2021 - melzar wrote: 92 Points
Excellent producer in an excellent vintage. Drinks well now, but tannins will further resolve, and the wine will improve.Copius fruit and good acidity. Well balanced.
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1/30/2021 - Escher Cellars wrote: 93 Points
Critiquing the 2nd day after opening, what a delight. Follow the recommendations here for when to pop and enjoy, and wait 3-4 years, otherwise highly recommend pouting a glass Day 1 and then drinking the rest Day 2. Cheers!
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12/10/2020 - Escher Cellars wrote: 91 Points
Very powerful, masculine, robust...add your adjective. A tannin-driven dark wine with firm backbone. A very good effort from a respected vintner but I would give it 3-4 more years to mellow. A wonderful cellared wine. Cheers.
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7/3/2020 - whowhatwine Likes this wine: 93 Points
Decanted the bottle for 60 minutes or so before tasting. Great wine and a perfect representation of Taurino. Still, a young wine has much more to give, but it opened up very nicely. Aromas of chocolate and tar and a slight hint of cigar. flavors of plum and dark cherry and silk. Tannins were strong at first but they settle nicely giving the wine a nice silky body with a really long finish. Great complexity. I recommend holding for a couple of years it will be a great wine
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6/19/2020 - bensony Likes this wine: 92 Points
The 2015 Radici is opaque medium to deep ruby in color with deep garnet variation near the rim. I gave this a couple hours to open up, allowing the nose to blossom into aromas of black cherry, ripe plum, strawberry, licorice, game, dusty dried earth, crushed rock, cedar, chocolate, and cracked pepper. Once in the mouth, the wine displays notes of blackberry, black raspberry, cassis, anise, violet, tobacco, loamy soil, granite, coffee grounds, smoke, mild vanilla, and rocky mineral. This is medium- to full-bodied with medium (+) acidity, high tannins, and a long finish. Drinks with remarkable depth, complexity, and character now but will only be better in five years and beyond.
100% Aglianico; 13.5% ABV
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5/29/2020 - pepmi wrote: 89 Points
We've entered the sixteenth wine region on our north to south tour of the Italian wine regions. My family came from Campagnia to America in the wave of Italian immigrants in the 20th Century. Taurasi, meaning roots, reflects the beginnings of this wine as well as that of my family.
Deep purple Aglianico in the glass. A nose of chocolate, blackberry and plum. In the mouth, notes of cedar, licorice and anise. Aglicanico reminds me of Zinfandel in its sweet, rustic earthiness.
What this wine lacks in elegance it more than makes up for in its vitality. Appreciate for what it is rather than what it is not.
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5/28/2020 - djarcara Likes this wine: 91 Points
Deep purple color. Fragrant floral nose. Medium body. Flavors of blackberry, blueberry, and tobacco. The wine has pronounced tannins that will allow for many years of aging, but has a juiciness that gives pleasure now with a good hour decant. Great balance and structure. Lovely wine that punches well above its weight.
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5/15/2020 - Tony T Likes this wine: 92 Points
Already a very nice and approachable 100% Aglianico wine. Very interesting to see how this develops over the coming years.
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5/10/2020 - stkilda Likes this wine: 95 Points
A fabulous representation of Aglianico as a cultivar, wonderful aromas of violets and raspberries, elegant and refined a wine with soul. One can certainly taste the resemblance to a Barolo, great with food.
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5/2/2020 - bevetroppo Likes this wine: 92 Points
On a family vacation in Italy we visited some relatives of my wife's somewhere near Taurasi. It was a modest single level home that sat on the edge of a small valley. I'm not even sure what direction the backyard faced, but when you looked you could see a vineyard (no big surprise) on the opposite slope of the valley and a large building at the top of the rise. It could have been a winery although it was too far away to tell, but one of the relatives just pointed and said "Mastroberadino."
That one word is a mouthful for lovers of aglianico, as the family has assiduously advanced and guarded the reputation of Taurasi like no other. Even our relatives, who could not have otherwise cared less about the wine, knew it was something special.
And so it is. A beautiful ruby red color, translucent and certainly not opaque. Heady nose of dark red and black fruits, full and ripe but not jammy in the least, with smoked meat and volcanic overtones. The fruit aromas are penetrating and juicy, surprisingly perhaps with enough acid to set my mouth a-watering. Rich and elegant on the palate at the same time, with some subdued oak providing a feather bed for the otherwise badass aglianico tannins. The fruit is attractive already but understandably still somewhat straight-jacketed by its youth, on a lengthy and balanced finish.
What I like most about this is the harnessed power and restraint, in what could easily have been a runaway fruit bomb. It needs/deserves the honor of substantial decanting time now and will improve easily over a decade or more. 13.5% alcohol. If there's such as thing as a Barolo of the South, this is a legitimate contender.
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4/26/2020 - rmalloy Likes this wine: 94 Points
For me, this is an unmistakably "great" wine. It made me wonder why I immediately have that conviction and whether it's just personal preference.
The aromas are strong, complex, and (importantly) dominated by things other than fruit. I smell tar, melted licorice, black olive, ripe plum, bramble fruit, and roasted curry leaves.
I also love the balance on the palate and the complexity of the mouthfeel. Lots of mouth-coating ripe fruit weight with plenty of acidity to keep it lively and roasted herbs to cut through it all, with big, but not abrasive, mouth-drying tannins on the finish.
Ultimately, it doesn't have quite enough concentration to warrant 95+ for me.
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4/21/2020 - hlip Likes this wine: 89 Points
Well balanced except with racy acidity
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4/18/2020 - IJC wrote:
This bottle exhibited none of the usual typicity - rough edges, uncompromising tannins, earth, smoke, bramble; instead, it was flat, giving no suggestion of the power one expects from an aglianico.
I think the wine has gone to sleep, and I will leave my other bottles in the cellar for some time.
Unrated.
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4/11/2020 - NarunP Likes this wine: 89 Points
100% Aglianico
Deep and dark color. Brilliantly fresh. Compact rim. Youthful.
Aromatics is of dark-skinned fruits and savory notes. Blackcurrant, black olive, bay leave, cured meat.
On the palate, it is quite expressive with little or no decanting air. Firm and finely dusty. Medium body and dry. The fruit profile is pronounced and lively. This shows plenty of crunched red cherry, cranberry. Mineral and saline. Spiced up nicely as well. Clean but lengthy fruit-forwarded finish.
Lively and crunchy are two adjectives popping into mind while drinking this wine. Somehow, it reminds me of structured cru Beaujolais, particularly Morgon. This is drinkable now with an upside I think, though I am inexperienced in this department to predict its future potential. 89 (+?)
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