Update: Second bottle tasted 4 months later has been even better. Strong value for the price. —— So glad to have tasted this wine immediately following the disappointing aglianico we opened yesterday. Now this is more representative of what I love about the grape. Beautiful. Deliciously rich chocolate covered cherry on the nose, along with aged leather, loads of charcoal/graphite, violets, nutmeg, warm cedar, and a subtle peppery gamey quality. Very generous nose in my mind. Palate is also giving with lush, moderate acid and a wash of ripe, brawny tannins— very powerful even with around 16 years of age. Not sure why some are ascribing it a “short” finish— I feel it shows a decently robust finish rife with menthol, resinous piney notes and smoked meat. Could potentially do with even more time here but well made and has gorgeous potential. Would hold for a couple more years or drink paired with a gamier red meat.
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1+ hour decant; dark purple in color with medium legs. Aglianico is a love/ hate grape; heavy in tannins. Very mild nose: some cocoa + very earthy/volconic note. On the tongue very unique; some plum, chocolate & black cherry. If you can get past the tannins and give it time it opens up nicely. The short finish holds it back some.
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Cardamom, leather, dried rosemary, cloves, fresh black cherries and cocoa powder on the nose. It's pretty spice-driven. I've seen the same cocoa powder thing on Chianti Classico and I don't know how to explain it other than to say it's different then cocoa as a note on oaky Argentine Malbec or Paso Robles CS. I'm not sure if it's from the oak or not. Maybe it's a case of "chocolate" vs "cocoa powder". More research is required...
Black cherries, black currants, dried herbs, tobacco on the palate; which is overall both fruitier AND shows more evidence of oak. The cocoa powder note comes back at the end of the palate. Medium + body with medium tannin and surprisingly great acid. I recommend drinking now. Great pairing with coda alla vaccinara.
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7/19/2023 - KingsleyZissou Likes this wine: 95 Points
Update: Second bottle tasted 4 months later has been even better. Strong value for the price.
——
So glad to have tasted this wine immediately following the disappointing aglianico we opened yesterday. Now this is more representative of what I love about the grape. Beautiful. Deliciously rich chocolate covered cherry on the nose, along with aged leather, loads of charcoal/graphite, violets, nutmeg, warm cedar, and a subtle peppery gamey quality. Very generous nose in my mind. Palate is also giving with lush, moderate acid and a wash of ripe, brawny tannins— very powerful even with around 16 years of age. Not sure why some are ascribing it a “short” finish— I feel it shows a decently robust finish rife with menthol, resinous piney notes and smoked meat. Could potentially do with even more time here but well made and has gorgeous potential. Would hold for a couple more years or drink paired with a gamier red meat.
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3/13/2023 - michaelbro8 Likes this wine: 90 Points
1+ hour decant; dark purple in color with medium legs. Aglianico is a love/ hate grape; heavy in tannins. Very mild nose: some cocoa + very earthy/volconic note. On the tongue very unique; some plum, chocolate & black cherry. If you can get past the tannins and give it time it opens up nicely. The short finish holds it back some.
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1/1/2023 - MK9786 wrote: 90 Points
Needs food to drink.
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12/23/2022 - AlphaMikeFoxtrot Likes this wine: 91 Points
Cardamom, leather, dried rosemary, cloves, fresh black cherries and cocoa powder on the nose. It's pretty spice-driven. I've seen the same cocoa powder thing on Chianti Classico and I don't know how to explain it other than to say it's different then cocoa as a note on oaky Argentine Malbec or Paso Robles CS. I'm not sure if it's from the oak or not. Maybe it's a case of "chocolate" vs "cocoa powder". More research is required...
Black cherries, black currants, dried herbs, tobacco on the palate; which is overall both fruitier AND shows more evidence of oak. The cocoa powder note comes back at the end of the palate. Medium + body with medium tannin and surprisingly great acid. I recommend drinking now. Great pairing with coda alla vaccinara.
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12/19/2022 - rmalloy Likes this wine: 89 Points
I liked this wine a lot in past tastings (and I generally like all of this producer’s aglianicos). But this bottle tastes too tart for me.
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