Mastroberardino Radici Taurasi Riserva DOCG 2015

JS 96 / VM 96 

Super-elegant but really tight aglianico here with lightly peppery black fruit, colored with inky and spicy notes. With aeration, you move into the herbal zone, with fresh bay-leaf, chai and light rosemary. The palate is medium-to full-bodied and you feel all the aromas pent-up, ready to burst out. The tension here is palpable and this will need several more years before the firm tannins soften, allowing the wine to open up and flood your palate. Still be patient. Try from 2024.

The 2015 Taurasi Riserva Radici is elegance personified, captivating with a deeply seductive bouquet that blends black cherries, rose petals and cloves with hints of underbrush, smoky minerals and crushed ashen stone. With each tilt of the glass, it seems to grow in both volume and depth. It unleashes waves of silken textures across the palate, carrying notes of savory cherry sauce, balsam herbs and dark, dark chocolate complicated by earth tones, as red inner florals amass toward the close. While youthfully structured, the 2015 Riserva is almost impossible to put down, mixing sweet tannins with hints of tobacco and dark fruits that seem to last for up to a minute. Bury this in the cellar and reap the rewards, as this balanced beauty is a long-distance runner.