TN some 03 Italians. Produttori, Serpico, Radici.

WINE TALK
1

Ciao Berserkers,

Just some quick catchup TNs.

  1. 2003 Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco “normale”. $21 after employee discount. Another vintage where no separate Riservas were made, like 98 and 06. The wine is just now starting to show some development, the last couple of bottles were still young and primary, but this one seems to be showing some complexity. Lots of fresh red raspberry fruit, spice, some red licorice. Roses in that nose too. Softening on the palate, light tannins, good acidity, raspberry and cherry fruit. A steal at the price I got it and one of those wines that makes me wish I had just bought a few more bottles. A real QPR wine. Let it rest another 3-5 years if you can. Grade: B+ now, A- potential.

  2. 2003 Mastroberardino Taurasi “Radici”. $33 on sale at the PA State Store. Drinking very well now, it has a mature brick/garnet color with some orange hints. Aromatic, spicy red fruit, with some citrus coming on, soft and easy on the palate, light tannin, good acidity. A nice wine but certainly not in the league of other vintages, and even at $33 not a real steal. Grade: solid B/B+.

  3. 2003 Feudi di San Gregorio, “Serpico”. 100% Aglianico, 18 months in new french oak. On sale at the PA State Store for $40. Very dark, inky blue black color. Big nose of fresh, intense blackberry fruit, spice and a ton of vanilla from the new oak. Same on the palate, blackberry fruit, spice, vanilla cream in the flavor and mouthfeel, long finish. What can I say? A modern style interpretation of Taurasi which undoubtably will get big scores from the critics, and if you like that style, a wine you should grab at this price. All the time I was thinking how great it could be without the new oak. Some fruit from 100 year old vines goes into this bottle according to the website, and the intensity of flavor reflects that. Grade: B+ for me, but modern style lovers will rate it higher, maybe even much higher.

Ciao, dc.

2

I’ve enjoyed the '01 Serpico quite a bit. Modern style or not, I wish more great Aglianico would find its way to the States. It’s way too underappreciated as a high end wine grape variety.

3

Mastroberardino seems to experience big swings depending on the vintage, but the newer releases seem to be gaining more of a track record. I hate when a ‘discount’ is no discount at all.

4

The 2003 Serpico was a disaster…Don’t know what happened, but somewhere between the 1999 (absolutely terrific, although an alarming rate of corked bottles) and the 2003 (ruined by oak), this winery lost its way. I don’t understand how some of the critics were fooled into rating this wine highly…even if you’re not oak averse, there is simply nothing here with any real focus or (beyond oak) flavor…I would say it was the freak vintage, but the 2001 also is a let down from the '99 (although nowhere near the disaster of the '03) notwithstanding that from a weather/harvest point of view '01 was a very good year, and many Taurasis from '01 (for example Terredora di Paolo) were quite good.