Winemaker Notes
Radici Taurasi pairs flawlessly with roasted meats, larger game, spicy Middle Eastern dishes, truffles and aged, flavorful cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Black-walnut, blackberry and black-olive aromas follow through to a full body, round and chewy tannins and a flavorful finish. Very rich and intense. Give it a year or two to come around still.
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Wine Enthusiast
Underbrush, red fruit, dark spice and a whiff of menthol are some of the aromas that come together on this. The firmly structured elegant palate offers ripe plum, red cherry, licorice and tobacco framed in youthfully austere fine grained tannins that need time to unwind.
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Wine Spectator
Lovely hints of spice box, graphite and violet accent the pure black currant and black cherry fruit in this harmonious, full-bodied red. There's good density to this focused version, with savory wild herb and tarry mineral details showing on the creamy, lingering finish. Drink now through 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Taurasi Radici is still in the process of integrating, and the oak notes are heavy-handed at the moment. Under that sweet spice and toast, you definitely get a clear glimpse of the pretty fruit below. Morello cherry and dried blackberry give substance and fiber to the core of this robust red wine. Much of this vintage rides on the oak, however. I'd suggest waiting a couple more years before popping the cork.
Making its home in the mountainous southern Italy, Aglianico is a bold red variety that is late to ripen and often spends until November on the vine. It thrives in Campania as the exclusive variety in the age-worthy red wine called Taurasi. Aglianico also has great success in the volcanic soils of Basilicata where it makes the robust, Aglianico del Vulture. Somm Secret—The name “Aglianico” bears striking resemblance to Ellenico, the Italian word for "Greek," but no evidence shows it has Greek ancestry. However, it first appeared in Italy around an ancient Greek colony located in present-day Avellino, Campania.
A winemaking renaissance is underfoot in Campania as more and more small, artisan and family-run wineries redefine their style with vineyard improvements and cellar upgrades. The region boasts a cool Mediterranean climate with extreme coastal, as well as high elevation mountain terroirs. It is cooler than one might expect in Campania; the region usually sees some of the last harvest dates in Italy.
Just south of Mount Vesuvio, the volcanic and sandy soils create aromatic and fresh reds based on Piedirosso and whites, made from Coda di Volpe and Falanghina. Both reds and whites go by the name, Lacryma Christi, meaning the "tears of Christ." South of Mount Vesuvio, along the Amalfi Coast, the white varieties of Falanghina and Biancolella make fresh, flirty, mineral-driven whites, and the red Piedirosso and Sciasinoso vines, which cling to steeply terraced coastlines, make snappy and ripe red wines.
Farther inland, as hills become mountains, the limestone soil of Irpinia supports the whites Fiano di Avellino, Falanghina and Greco di Tufo as well as the most-respected red of the south, Aglianico. Here the best and most age-worthy examples come from Taurasi.
Farther north and inland near the city of Benevento, the Taburno region also produces Aglianico of note—called Aglianico del Taburno—on alluvial soils. While not boasting the same heft as Taurasi, these are also reliable components of any cellar.