2006 Calabretta Nerello Mascalese Sicilia Vigne Vecchie

Community Tasting Notes (25) Avg Score: 91.1 points

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  10/16/2022 - PaulusLoZebra Likes this wine: 93 Points

  I have rarely experienced much bottle variation with Calabretta's wines, but perhaps I have an example tonight. This is my seventh bottle of the '06 Lotto MS1, and it's been only three months since #6. That was by far the best of this this vintage that I've had so far. This was more reserved, less aromatic, and took three hours of air to open up compared to the one+ hour for the bottle in July. Otherwise all of my tasting notes from July apply.

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  7/21/2022 - PaulusLoZebra Likes this wine: 95 Points

  This (L MS1) is my sixth bottle, but the first for the past 2.5 years. It is magnificent. Decanted through a gravity aerator one hour before dinner, it was served over two nights and the wine was equally good on both nights; a bit more aromatic on night one, a bit sweeter and more savory on night two. This has an intoxicating aromatic profile and an intense, beguiling flavor profile. It is intensely savory and umami. Drink to 2030+.
  
  The wine is redolent of sweet tobacco leaf, wood fire, cherry, dried cherry, plum, earth, minerals, leather and, a great Nerello Mascalese signature, raw red meat. It is exotically spicy and savory, with a medium++ body, excellent acidity, and firm, slightly dusty tannins. It has very good length, and the 15% ABV is not perceptible IF the wine is kept slightly cool. I have said it before, but it is worth repeating: this is the pinnacle of Nerello Mascalese "rustico". Exceptional QPR.

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  12/17/2020 - jcha24 wrote:

  No clue why I haven’t continued buying these wines. This is in a great spot. Fully resolved but no decline in sight.

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  1/17/2020 - PaulusLoZebra Likes this wine: 94 Points

  My fifth bottle of this vintage and the best yet. Decanted for 45 minutes, then served, it was magical immediately and fully open at 90 minutes. A wine with a great aromatic profile and an intense, beguiling flavor profile, it is meant to be sipped and savored with a meal, so that every part of its intense savoriness and umami can be enjoyed. This is the pinnacle of Nerello Mascalese "rustico".
  
  Same notes as the previous bottle, except that the acidity and savoriness of this bottle seem bigger and more intense, as do the sweet tobacco leaf and smokiness: complex fragrances and flavors - cherry, dried cherry, plum, earth, minerals, leather, raw red meat, and an exotic spiciness; medium body, very savory; good levels of acid, and gentle but firm and slightly dusty tannins; very good length.
  
  This wine has many great years ahead of it, but I am not sure if it will improve; 2006 seems to be, for Calabretta, a vintage with a slightly shorter - say 20 years - drinking window.
  
  Exceptional QPR.

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  11/10/2019 - Gunakadeit Likes this wine: 88 Points

  A little hotter and port-ier (and simpler) than an ‘07 I had a few days ago, and it suffered by comparison.

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