1959 Solaria Jonica
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Tasting notes
Tasted from a 50-cl bottle. 1959 was an 'extraordinary summer', according to the notes I was given about this wine. Antonio Ferrari was a Piemontese wine producer and négociant who had a particular passion for Primitivo in the south of Italy. He negotiated to buy the grapes from a particular vineyard belonging to Baron Bardoscia, and then delayed harvest until the grapes were overripe. He then transported the grapes in Fiat 682 trucks up the old SS16 road to Galliate in Piemonte, which took two days (no motorway back then!). The grapes were then allowed to further raisin (presumably on mats) and then they were foot-stomped. The wine was fermented in chestnut barrels and then moved to concrete tanks where it sat for more than 40 years before it was bottled. Dark rosewood colour. Viscous. And utterly remarkable! Like sipping long-aged aceto balsamico tradizionale . It's almost shocking in the roar of its soaring complexity and perplexing contradictions. Stunning richness and yet stunning freshness. Magnificent sweetness and yet densely savoury. Pumpernickel. Molasses. Truffle. Cacao tea. Liquorice and toasted chestnuts. Praline and dried rose petals. Wave after wave of flavour. A liquid mosaic that keeps shifting. A wine that feels as if it carries the weight and whisper of stories. Tannins that have turned into a river. It's like a prayer, full of sweetness and bitterness, longing and stillness, the taste of blood and rust and bitter oranges. And then the length … if the wine is prayer, the length is immortality. (TC)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Daniel Thomases, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
No, the vintage date of this wine is not an error. Just released, it is a selection of old-vine Primitivo grown south of Taranto and only now hitting the market. No one seems to know whether the fermentation was stopped by fortifying the wine or if it just stopped on its own as a result of the superlative richness of the must, but the fact remains that, with close to 14% of alcohol, it is as sweet as a great Recioto, a wine which it greatly resembles. Still an amazingly fresh ruby color, it features a decadent nose of blackberry jam, raisins, chocolate, and licorice, a texture of sheer satin, great warmth and roundness, a sweetness which never becomes cloying, precise and focused flavors, and a finish as long as the fade-out to “Hey Jude”. The producer is negotiating with an importer for this and other wines, but it is presently available at Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino restaurant in Santa Monica and at Alain Ducasse’s Louis XV restaurant in Monte Carlo, for those willing to fling a few shekels around. Importer: Montecastelli Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 414-4898