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.

Distinctly damson in colour Michele’s 2003 Taurasi Riserva, of which only 600 cases were made, still retains its youth with compelling, compact aromas of black currant, damson, cracked black pepper & even sea salt accompanying the seasoned oak notes; the wine was aged for 20 months in French barriques followed by six years bottling ageing prior to release!

On the palate there’s the classic Aglianico roll of juicy blackberry/currant fruit flavours, bright cleansing acidity, fine linear tannins & black pepper crunch. No hint of heat or bother whatsoever. Impressive. Focussed yet keen to please, to be paired with a sizzling steak. Classy. Decant an hour before drinking but will keep. Drinking 2013 - 2021.
David Berry Green

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

2009 was a tougher vintage in the South, plagued by rain. A wave of water swept passed Luigi’s cantina and through Paternopoli in June; prompting attacks by downy mildew resulting in 60% less fruit at Luigi’s disposal, despite an otherwise benign summer. Matured in botte grande, undergrowth, forest, rosemary fruit pepper the nose; the full bodied palate is lush with earthy strawberry notes, along with a crushed mineral lattice character that reminds one of Barolo’s Serralunga d’Alba. Perhaps a wine to drink before his 2008 (and 2006 even).
David Berry Green

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)