Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2005 Montefalco Rosso Riserva Pipparello is a rock star wine. This powerful, intense red emerges with generous dark cherries, plums, licorice, smoke and leather. The late harvest in 2005 resulted in an extraordinarily complete wine blessed with tons of pedigree. The 2005 Pipparello is 60% Sangiovese, 25% Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and 15% Sagrantino. The wine saw 42 days of contact on the skins and was aged for a year in stainless steel followed by two years in cask. Simply put, it is magnificent!
Italian Red Wine
While picturesque hillsides, endless coastlines and a favorable climate serve to unify the grape-growing culture of this country. The apparent never-ending world of indigenous grape varieties gives Italy an unexampled charm and allure for its red wines. From the steep inclines of the Alps to the sprawling, warm, coastal plains of the south, red grape varieties thrive throughout.
The kings of Italy, wines like Barolo and Barbaresco (made of Nebbiolo), and Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino (made of Sangiovese), as well as Amarone (mostly Corvina), play center stage for the most lauded, collected and cellar-worthy reds. Less popular but entirely deserving of as much praise are the wines made from Aglianico, Sagrantino and Nerello Mascalese.
For those accustomed to drinking New World reds, the south is the place to start. Grapes like Negroamaro or Primitvo from Puglia and Nero d’Avola from Sicily make soft, ammicable, full-bodied, fruit-dominant wines. Curious palates should be on the lookout for Cannonau (Grenache), Lagrein, Teroldego, Ruché, Freisa, Cesanese, Schiopettino, Rossese and Gaglioppo to name a few.