2008 Taurasi Radici Riserva Antonio

The 2008 Taurasi Radici Riserva Antonio is a one-off wine made only this vintage to celebrate the incredible life and influence of Antonio Mastroberardino who passed away in January 2014. The wine is made only with fruit from the Montemarano vineyard and it ages in wood for 30 months (40% sees botte grande and 60% goes into barrique). This is a beautifully polished and sophisticated wine with a deep, dark color and an impressively silky quality to the tannins. The bouquet shows ethereal tones of dried earth, rose petal, tar, resin and cola. The 2008 vintage was especially successful terms of phenolic ripeness for color intensity and aromas. I went back to the wine an hour after tasting it and was delighted to see that it continued to evolve and open. This is an elegant wine dedicated to one of the most passionate advocates of Campania wine. Apr 2015, www.robertparker.com