Chicago Italian Lovers round 5- Taurasis

Caro Mio, Chicago IL
Tasted Thursday, September 19, 2013 by KeithAkers with 663 views

Introduction

This kind of tasting was the exact reason we all started this group. Yes, we all drink a fair amount of Piedmont and Tuscan wines, but we all wanted to explore the whole boot of Italy. With the line up shaping out the way it did, there was a lot of anticipation for this.

While we were supposed to dine somewhere else originally, Caro Mio was happy to have us at the last second.

Flight 1 - Opening Whites (2 Notes)

  • 2011 Mastroberardino Greco di Tufo 87 Points

    Italy, Campania, Greco di Tufo DOCG

    Nose: Well balanced with a real freshness to it along with white fruits, minerals, pears, and some lemon zest. There is a good crispness to it, but it is lacking depth.

    Taste: Light bodied with crisp medium+ acidity. There is a nice freshness with white fruits, stone fruits, minerals, and some lemon zest.

    Overall: This is a very good Greco di Tufo. It showed the mineral quality I expected, but I was missing the more volcanic side of things. Still, this is very refreshing and enjoyable.

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  • 2011 Giuseppe Quintarelli Bianco Secco Cà del Merlo 88 Points

    Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT

    Nose: The nose is very fresh and fragrant with stone fruits, white flowers, white peaches, and an underlying minerality to it. There is good complexity to the aromas, but they are lacking some depth.

    Taste: Light bodied with medium acidity. There is some depth lacking on the palate with stone fruits, white flowers, and a good amount of minerals.

    Overall: While this was a very good wine, it seemed to lack some character and depth.

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Flight 2 - Mastroberardino Taurasis (4 Notes)

These were all on the older side and it was great having this classic producer to provide us a marking point for classic Taurasi.

  • 1987 Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici Riserva 94 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: The nose is extremely savory and layered with violets, herbs, incense, dark red cherries, red florals, spices, and a touch of earth. The tones just drew you in and were completely captivating.

    Taste: Medium bodied with medium+ acidity and refined tannins. The feel is very pretty and refined with violets, herbs, incense, dark red cherries, red florals, earth, and some bits of soy.

    Overall: There is some depth lacking on the palate that would fully kick this into gear, but it was very beautiful. This was my first experience with a taurasi of this kind of age and it won't be the last.

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  • 1997 Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici 93 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: The nose shows off a lot of perfumes along with red cherries, red berries, spices, red florals, anise, and some crushed rocks too. There is very good depth and layering with a more feminine style to it.

    Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity and silky tannins. The feel, while on the larger side, also has a femininity to it with red cherries, red berries, red florals, anise, with a mineral base to everything.

    Overall: This is a gorgeous wine. It is showing itself beautifully right now, but it has a lot more to give.

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  • 1999 Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici 92 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: The nose is very perfumed with violets, minerals, crushed rocks, dark red cherries, and licorice. There is very good depth to this with a sense of style as well.

    Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity and chewy tannins. The structure is very youthful with violets, incense, crushed rocks, dark red cherries, and licorice.

    Overall: The nose was very open while it was showing some very youthful structure.

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  • 2003 Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici 89 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: There is definitely a riper quality to this with dark chocolate, red florals, dark red cherries, and liqueur notes.

    Taste: Full bodied with medium acidity and some hard tannins. It's 2003-ness is showing in the tannins with dark chocolate, liqueur notes, dark red cherries, and dark red fruits.

    Overall: While this doesn't show itself to be over ripe, it certainly has a riper side to it. The tannins are also on the stern side right now, but if they pull back a bit, this could certainly get better.

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Flight 3 - Molettieri Taurasis and an Aglicanico (4 Notes)

Molettieri was a complete 180 from the Mastroberardinos. These showed oak influence, but were all very good as well. This flight also consisted of a lot of wines that will likely show better with more time.

  • 2000 Salvatore Molettieri Taurasi Cinque Querce 91 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: This shows to be much bigger with licorice, black cherries, chocolate, incense, with a touch of chalky minerals. There is good depth to this with a bigger intensity to it as well.

    Taste: Full bodied with big and chewy tannins and medium acidity. The structure is very youthful with licorice, black cherries, black fruits, incense, and some chocolate.

    Overall: This was a departure from the Mastroberadinos. This showed more intensity vs the mastroberadinos showing more class and style. While this showed more intensity, it certainly had a style of its own and is also very youthful.

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  • 2004 Salvatore Molettieri Taurasi Cinque Querce 90 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: Rich and powerful nose with black fruits, black cherries, licorice, oak, and some dark chocolate. The oak is a bit too prominent here as it forms the general base.

    Taste: Full bodied with very gripping tannins and medium acidity. The structure is very youthful with black fruits, licorice, black cherries, and dark chocolate. The oak isn't anywhere near as bad on the palate as the nose.

    Overall: This is extremely young. This can become really good with time and if the oak on the nose pulls back a bit. There is a definite raw power to it and even with air, it was still fairly tight.

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  • 2006 Salvatore Molettieri Taurasi Cinque Querce 90 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: The nose is certainly on the tight side with dark chocolate, black cherries, licorice, black cherries, and some liquer tones. There is good complexity, but it takes a few go arounds to get everything.

    Taste: Full bodied with extremely gripping tannins and medium acidity. The structure is punishing right now with dark chocolate, black cherries, liqueur, and some black berries.

    Overall: This is brutally young right now. This is certainly on the raw and powerful side to where it could take a good 10-15 years to even start to show what it has.

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  • 2006 Salvatore Molettieri Aglianico Irpinia 91 Points

    Italy, Campania, Irpinia

    Nose: The nose is showing a richer quality with black fruits, black cherries, spices, licorice, and some black berries. While it's in the same style, it doesn't have the intensity that the Taurasis have.

    Taste: Full bodied with medium+ acidity and gripping tannins with black fruits, black cherries, licorice, incense, and violets. The structure is very youthful and there is good intensity to this.

    Overall: This is a good comparison against the Tarausi. It didn't show the same intensity as the Taruasi, but it was slightly more open and with it's own style.

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Flight 4 - Taurasi Grab Bag (3 Notes)

These were some others that we came with to give us a wider picture. Sadly the Le Coste was tight as a drum, but the two others showed beautifully.

  • 2007 Contrade di Taurasi (Cantine Lonardo) Taurasi Le Coste

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    This just wasn't showing anything. The tannins were thrashing and the nose just wasn't giving anything up. Hopefully I can try this in the future.

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  • 2001 Perillo Taurasi Riserva 93 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: Sumptuous and perfumed nose with violets, chocolate, black cherries, red florals, spices, herbs, and incense. The tones are very seductive with very good layering as well.

    Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity and noticeable tannins. The feel is more refined with violets, chocolate, black cherries, herbs, crushed rocks, and incense on the back end. There is very good depth and a very savory quality to it as well.

    Overall: This was a gorgeous Taurasi. While it felt like it was starting to drink, there is a good way to go. This received a good 3+ hours of air and showed absolutely beautifully.

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  • 1999 Terredora di Paolo Taurasi Fatica Contadina 92 Points

    Italy, Campania, Taurasi DOCG

    Nose: Very perfumed with a subtle and burgundian quality to it with violets, earth tones, chalky minerals, roses, red cherries, and incense. There is very good layering to this with a savory take too.

    Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity and refined tannins. The tannins are still youthful, but aren't overpowering with violets, earth tones, chalky minerals, red cherries, and incense. The feel is regal with a real sense of class.

    Overall: This kept gaining with air. Even with us just being at 8, there still didn't seem that there was enough to go around. This bottle felt like it had more of a story to tell, but there just wasn't enough time.

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Closing

Caro Mio did a fantastic job after we were fairly screwed by another establishment. While things ended up going later because of it, everything turned out great and all of us were happy.

The wines were tremendous. This was a great learning experience with a lot of discovery for all of us. There was a definite range shown in the 9 wines and I look forward to collecting more of these and seeing where they go down the road.

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