2004 Montevetrano
Campania,
ITALY
$160. 00
Bottle
$1920.00 Dozen
Closure: Cork
This Italian cult wine is inspired by the great wines of
It’s a very fine line that separates a simple wine from an elegant one, especially when you’re doing a blind tasting and the range includes some good weighty specimens. When the wine in question is a Montevetrano, however, this fine line suddenly stretches into a wide chasm because what the senses recognize as lightness and essentiality, the heart reads as pure, unadulterated emotion. We’ve already said all there is to say about Montevetrano: the distinctive Mediterranean Bordeaux profile, the silky mineral development and the brilliant expansion in the finish. And yet we never ceased to be amazed by the way in which Silvia Imparato’s and Riccardo Cotarella’s creation manages to thrill us time after time. This wine positively radiates charisma before we even get to its organoleptic excellence, and steals the show with a crisp, complex performance like those characters in Dostoevsky whose silent aura draws everyone’s attention. The fresh but full 2004 vintage combines seductive classicism with astonishingly graceful definition. Notes of freshly mown grass and minty talc are the prelude to an inexorable crescendo of aromas that run the gamut from blueberry to musk, black pepper and bitter herbs. The palate displays its usual spectacular grace and harmony with masterful acidity and a textbook dose of oak. The stronger than usual, almost salty, iodine note will mark this vintage out in years to come. Just the vintage, though, because Montevetrano is already unique.
Awarded 3 glasses
Gambero Rosso Other Reviews.....
The 2004 Montevetrano is a knock-out. Endless layers of richly textured dark fruit flows from the glass as this gorgeous wine gradually reveals the depth of its expression. Tar, smoke, menthol, eucalyptus and earthiness emerge with air, adding further complexity as the wine sits in the glass. Gorgeously long and pure - with a finish that lasts forever- this sumptuous wine is not to be missed. Montevetrano is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 10% Aglianico. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2024. Proprietor Silvia Imparato originally set out to make wine as a hobby. Her family owned a small property in the hills in the province of Salerno, and in 1985 she grafted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Aglianico on to existing, old rootstocks. With the help of oenologist Riccardo Cotarella she fashioned a modern French-oak aged wine that would ultimately have a profound impact on the wine world by demonstrating the true potential of the wines of Southern Italy. Today, a number of important wines have emerged from the South but to the credit of Imparato and Cotarella, Montevetrano remains among the finest and most distinctive.
95 points
Antonio Galloni - Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate