2004, 2008, 2011 Cappellano

Three of us got together yesterday for a COVID distanced outdoor tasting of Cappellano. Although there is quite a bit of Piedmonte experience amongst the three of us, we can’t claim the same with regard to Cappellano wines. So we decided to try some that we had been saving. The 04 and 08 double decanted 4-5 hours ahead. The 11 slow oxed for 4 hours, double decanted 2 hours ahead (because it seemed pretty open when first opened).

2004 Cappellano Pie Franco–Deep garnet color. Nice dark red fruit on the nose, some rose, with a little tar/balsamic. Noticeable oxidative note on the nose and a little on the palate, but doesn’t seem to detract from the overall mix. Very good fruit density on the palate with balance and nice length. tannins pretty well integrated. Overall we were lucky. Have otherwise had too many badly oxidized Cappellano wines from this vintage.

2008 Cappellano Pie Franco–Again fairly dark red, garnet color. Slightly closed on the nose but opens steadily thru the tasting. Dark red fruits, flowers, slight mint on the nose. palate is deep and rich, but slightly short. Tannins are there but not drying. no oxidative notes at all. overall promising, still a little on the young side, and I would expect continued improvement over the next 5-10 years.

2011 Cappellano Rupestris–A little lighter in color. Penetrating high toned, ripe, almost liquorous nose with some mint, even upon opening (could have popped and poured). Sweet, medium red fruit on the palate, a little noticeable alcohol. A great pleasure now. Not expecting this to be a long ager.

We also had the 2011 Rupestris recently - and I completely agree with your assessment. Drinking so well now I don’t think I’ll try to find out if it can age… similar to a 2011 Alessandria Monvigliero I had last week.

Yeah, it was a pleasure. Even though it showed well out of the chute, I think it did gain depth and a little complexity with air, so I would either give it 2-3 hours of air before, or be slow about drinking it.

Love the 2011. No rush, but it is delicious.

The 2011 Rupestris has been fabulous since release. I think it has “medium” aging potential. 2014 is somewhat similar, though not quite as good.