Wine of the Month: January 2023

With the start of the new year at JamesSuckling.com we’re also debuting out our newest feature series, Wine of the Month, focused on the one wine that most struck our fancy during the past month’s worth of tastings. It won’t necessarily be the highest-rated wine we tasted but rather the one that stood out for its uniqueness, taste, style, drinkability and affordability, among other factors. Since our tastings span the entire globe, we will try to give equal consideration to the myriad wine regions we cover. Enjoy.

Our first Wine of the Month for 2023 is the Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici Riserva 2016, from one of the leading wineries in the Irpinia district of the region of Campania, in the sunny south of Italy.

Sunny, yes! Just think of the sweltering city of Naples, Campania’s capital, and the gorgeous, sun-soaked Amalfi Coast, but let’s not forget that the interior of the same region, including Irpinia, where aglianico thrives together with its white “sisters”, fiano and greco, is as rugged as any “mountainous” region of Italy, and has its own particular climate.

In fact, the 2016 vintage that gave birth to this wine was cool and rainy overall, even through the summer! Yet, the Radici Riserva seems to have taken the somewhat troubled growing season in its stride. The grapes come from the highest part of the estate’s  Montemerano vineyard, at about 550 meters, and the wine was aged in a mix of French barriques and Slavonian oak casks for around 30 months, followed by a further 40 months of aging in bottle before release.

The Radici Riserva is one of a trio of Taurasi Riservas produced by Mastroberardino from the 2016 vintage, the other two being the Mastroberardino Taurasi Naturalis Historia Riserva 2016 and Mastroberardino Taurasi Stilèma Riserva 2016. See our recent Weekly Tasting Report for further details.

When it comes to Italy’s quality indigenous red grapes, we’re perhaps more used to talking and hearing about Tuscany’s sangiovese, championed by Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, or nebbiolo, the stalwart Piedmont red grape that is responsible for that region’s top reds, Barolo and Barbaresco.

But this is aglianico, the king of the south! It’s well capable of producing reds that can match the quality of its peers further north in the peninsula, for the purity of its licoricey, meaty red and black fruit, as well as the abundant tannin that taxes winemakers throughout the region and beyond.

Just read the tasting note here to understand how well the Mastroberardino crew got the best out of the aglianico grapes in what the winery’s owner describes as a “cantankerous vintage.”

The 2016 Radici Riserva is approachable now if you’re a die-hard aglianico aficionado, though the tannin still needs a bit of time to sink in, so it’s probably best to lay it down for a few years more. Or indeed, maybe for a lifetime! Last summer, my two sons and I opened a double magnum of the 2000 vintage non-riserva version of this wine for a family reunion. And the 22-year-old remained super to the last drop, two days later … and without Coravin!

James, too, reports that he has drunk some fantastic Taurasis in his career, from vintages going back to the 50s and 60s, and he and wife Marie recently enjoyed a Jeroboam of 1971 aglianico for Marie’s birthday.

But If you’re new to aglianico, rest assured. With the 2016 Radici Riserva you’re in good hands.

– Jo Cooke, Tastings Editor