Taurasi

This wine is made with 100 percent Piedirosso, one of Campania’s native red grapes that is now in limited production. Grown on volcanic soil, here – in the hands of the masterful team at Mastroberardino – it produces a generous wine, with aromas of black cherry and plum. The palate is smooth, with ripe tannins and layers of spicy complexity.

Made from 100 percent Aglianico, this wine is deep garnet in colour. The nose hints at cocoa spice and red cherry fruit. The tannins are ripe and smoothly textured, with fresh fruit and leather notes adding complexity. The finish is long and generous.
Katherine Dart MW, Buyer

For its complexity and elegance, the Redimore from Mastroberardino is a wine that is worth singling out. Without having to pay the higher (although still very reasonable, compared with the prices of some wines from further north) price for Taurasi, this wine shows the characteristics of all that is great about Aglianico; its delightful red and black fruit, its nuances of spice and smoke, all balanced by the most elegant of structures. Truly a wine to savour.
Chris Pollington, Italy Specialist

Made with 100 percent Greco di Tufo, Mastroberardino may be best known for their rich and age-worthy Aglianicos, but this white is equally delicious. The nose hints of herbs, white peach and pear, while the palate is scented and well structured. A bright, clear freshness adds definition and length.

The 2008 Taurasi Radici Riserva Antonio is a one-off wine made only this vintage to celebrate the incredible life and influence of Antonio Mastroberardino who passed away in January 2014. The wine is made only with fruit from the Montemarano vineyard and it ages in wood for 30 months (40% sees botte grande and 60% goes into barrique). This is a beautifully polished and sophisticated wine with a deep, dark color and an impressively silky quality to the tannins. The bouquet shows ethereal tones of dried earth, rose petal, tar, resin and cola. The 2008 vintage was especially successful terms of phenolic ripeness for color intensity and aromas. I went back to the wine an hour after tasting it and was delighted to see that it continued to evolve and open. This is an elegant wine dedicated to one of the most passionate advocates of Campania wine.
Monica Larner - The Wine Advocate, 30th April 2015

From a great Italian vintage, this wine is now beginning to hit its stride after 30 months in barrel and a further six years in bottle. A remarkable bouquet of fresh leather, spice, black fruit and flowers is the opening salvo. It is just stunning on the palate; rich, full-bodied, fine and savoury with velvety tannins and perfectly-judged acidity. This is really lovely with a long, satisfying finish; drinking very well now, but no hurry to drink it up. 

Mastroberardino is the family-based firm that is universally acknowledged to have been the most important guardian of the vinous heritage of Campania. The winery has always been focused on honing the virtues of Campania’s traditional grape varieties: paying close attention to planting varieties on appropriate soils; using the right type of vine training and trellising; and adopting winemaking methods that maximize the grapes’ varietal character, rather than techniques that bury it under oak and overt fruitiness. The Mastroberardino family has always sought out and resuscitated native varietals that history, phylloxera and World War II had diminished. When most farmers were ripping out their local vines in favour of high-yielding Sangiovese or Merlot, Antonio Mastroberardino, Piero’s father, remained committed to the local grapes; and his gradual success, convinced some to stick with indigenous vines. Still, until the early 1990s Mastroberardino was the only winery in Irpinia growing indigenous vines and producing quality wine.

Sweetly scented aromas that hint at prune and dark berries are interwoven with more savoury notes of leather, toasted hazelnuts and spice. The palate is fullbodied with supple tannins and lively acidity. There is enough matter to allow for further ageing, but this wine also drinks beautifully now.
Drink 2016-2028.

This wine is proof that the South had the best of 2008’s weather. Luigi talks of his Taurasi making itself in this vintage with the combination of heat and sufficient water delivering fruit that is both ripe and beautifully balanced. It is fine and ripe with a cherry intensity, whilst being delicate and ethereal too. This is quite difficult to read at such an early stage of its life but it is certainly a prodigious wine and one to stick away while you enjoy the earlier drinking ‘Campi Taurasini’.
(David Berry Green)