From: Puglia, Italy
Varietals: Mostly Negroamaro, blended with a small amount of Malvasia Nera
Tasting Notes: The 2012 Copertino Riserva is brick red with garnet hints, a silky texture, and remarkable depth, complexity, and character. It offers seductive aromatics of blackberry, plum, spice, Maduro cigar leaf, and smoked meats. The palate features well-integrated layers of leather, wild berries (blackberry, blackcurrant), cedar, tar, vanilla, and soft spices, leading into a long finish that shows dried cherry and Port-like nuances.
Pairing: Perfect for just about any time of year, this 10 year old masterpiece really delivers. We dare say you’ll be wanting this when cooler weather hits, but it’s the perfect richly textured red wine that’ll warm you on cool summer evenings when you want to spend all the time outdoors in front of a fire. It is also the ideal companion for barbecue! If you’re vegetarian, we’d recommend Folami’s BBQ Tofu: a recipe from Folami Prescott-Adams, and adapted by Nicole Taylor for the NYT. If not, give Melissa Clark’s NYT recipe for Grilled Pork with Whole Spices and Garlic Bread a try.
Largely inspired by Puglia in the peninsula's southernmost reaches, ancient Greeks called Italy "Oenotria" – land of the vine. Today, Puglia is home to 25 production zones, most significantly the DOC Copertino. The Copertino Cooperative was established in 1935 when a group of visionary growers collaborated to produce a higher-quality wine from the region's traditional indigenous grapes.
Severino Garofano, the talented winemaker behind this project, has been long regarded as the most respected enologist in the Salento. With Copertino, Garofano and his growers have been catalysts for the region's pride in making modern varietal wines that stand on their own, rather than being used as simple blending resources.
Negroamaro has long been recognized as one of the grapes best suited to the hot, dry climate and terroir in the Salento peninsula (colloquially referred to as the "heel" of Italy's "boot"). At ten years old, this wine’s age is certainly an asset; this time has allowed the Negroamaro’s tannins to sofen, and tertiary flavors to develop in the bottle.
