March 19, 2021 - Dark berries, medium body, good acidity, still drinking nicely and easy to drink. Served with Pan-Fried Thin Beef Steaks, Cacciatora Style (Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking) and Wilted Greens (The Girl and the Fig). Nothing earth-shattering here, but a pleasant, good wine. Pretty nice with chocolate too.
October 8, 2018 - Delicious. Some spice and coffee notes on nose, round medium bodied, easy, with some complexity. Probably would not guess Italian. A crowd pleaser with none of the cynicism that that characterization can bring. Hard to see anyone not enjoying this.
January 1, 2018 - I gave a previous bottle a 90, but this one settles more in the 88-89 range. I may have been taken in by the novelty of the varietal / region (as we don't see much Cesanese / Lazio in Ontario), but the first bottle showcased intriguing complexity, including notes of dark berries, meat, black pepper, and, in a nod to southern Italian reds, strong minerality, specifically iron. Inky and butter, it was food-friendly and familiar, yet also new and refreshing. This second bottle, in contrast, is just a bit too rough, a bit too lacking in complexity, for a 90, and the nose is a bit too buttery, the fruit a bit too ripe and baked. (And, thinking back, maybe the first one was too.) But, for all that, it's still really good, an intriguing find from Lazio, a grape, rooted in antiquity, well off the beaten path.
November 20, 2017 - It took a while for this wine to open up and then settle down but after a couple hours it was really enjoyable. Dark and opaque with a concentrated and rich backbone but balanced with good acidity and a very long finish. Good QPR.
October 24, 2017 - Nice intense red (and some back) fruits with good tannins. A bit rustic but still quite smooth. An interesting and enjoyable wine.
October 19, 2017 - When you encounter a rare, generally unknown varietal, as was the case for me encountering Cesanese from Lazio for the first time (this is from the Lazio IGT, not one of the three specific Cesanese DOCs), you tend to look for comparisons. And there's a lot to compare this fascinating wine to, including Syrah and Cabernet Franc given the notes of blackberry, blueberry, cherry, black pepper, and roasted meat. But it's also distinctly Italian, pointing southward towards other, if bolder, ancient varietals like Aglianico, with delicate minerality on the palate and a heavy dose of iron dominating the aftertaste. It's also quite rich (much more so than I expected), with an inky texture and a buttery aroma, a balanced structure and impressive overall complexity, food-friendly Italian savouriness perched alongside ripe fruit, all leading to a wonderfully long finish. It's all quite familiar, within the Italian idiom, and likely literally ancient in its origins, yet also invigorating as a new find and quite distinct in its own right.
September 5, 2017 - Purple colour, with juicy, ripe, primary fruit flavours. Very well balanced; fruity, peppery finish.
3.5/5