2017 Casa Vinicola Michele Alois Trebulanum

Camphor and mint nuances emerge from the darkly alluring 2017 Casavecchia Riserva Trebulanum. Coaxing brings further depths of flowery underbrush, crushed stones and musky black currants. This is pure elegance on the palate, nearly creamy in feel, with tantalizing acidity and wild berry fruits that traverse both sweet and sour. A web of edgy tannins sneaks in through the finish, previously cloaked by the 2017s sheer mass, as the Trebulanum finishes structured and incredibly long, leaving a violet floral and tart blackberry crunch. While painfully youthful today, I find it almost impossible to stop revisiting the glass.

Rich, sweet plums and berries on the nose and palate. Hints of savory tufo-like minerals, too. Full-bodied with lots of juicy fruit and firm tannin. Almost drinkable now, but another year will round it off nicely. Try from 2023.

The Alois 2017 Casavecchia di Pontelatone Riserva Trebulanum (with fruit from the single-vineyard particella 165) is the estate's top-shelf wine. What this bottle teaches us is that the Casavecchia grape can endure near or medium-term aging, and its primary fruit tones, with dark fruit and plum, remain mostly intact. This wine is fermented on the skins for 15 days and ages in oak for two years to add thick layers of toast and spice. This vintage, with 6,600 bottles made, shows robust and generous results.