WOW! This is the real deal, one of the top 5 best I've had.
Deep black color with a touch of purple. Complex nose of floral tones over pencil lead.
On the pallet, this is thick, highly extracted, and constantly revealing new neuances. Layers of blackberry, lvender, pencil, gravel, mocha, and licorice float about wrapped in a seductive velvety package. The silky tannins are well integrated. The finish keeps giving over a minute.
This reminds me somewhat of the '97 Allegrini Amarone in terms of complexity.
Parker gave this a 98 and WS a 94, I give it a 96. Really awsome juice for $60!

Scotty

What a timely post. Wine Library has this at their "Wine of the Year." I was considering picking up a few. You may have just swung my vote!!!

I am so happy I just picked up some of these last week. Thanks for the post. I can't wait.

I've never had this wine before, how would you compare it to other Italian wines? Is it more like an Amarone with a dessert like intensity or is it more of a Brunello to be serve with food?

Is this made from Aglianico? Anyways, it seems like it's sold out from WineLibrary.

Agree-
This wine is fantastic-
It is Aglianico-

A couple of days ago, Premier Cru had some on its site for future delivery so you might check there.

Thanks for the info CW.

Ronaldo, unfortunately PC doesn't ship to VA. And not to mention stories of trying to get their "pre-arrivals"...

TomTom, to answer your question, I would not pair this up with food - except for possibly something like Osso Bucco. I enjoyed this with some good cheeses, aged guda and regiano parmegina(sp)
This is big and bold and has so much to give I would hate to loose some of it by attempting to match with food.
My advice, at least for the first bottle, try it alone or with cheese!
Enjoy!

I tasted this at a Slow Food-Gambero Rosso event and thought it was WOTN for sure. I ordered 2 cases on pre-arrival-couldn't help myself. The Aglianico varietal is terrific.

Jamietown, I appreciate the heads up on PC pre-arrivals. Since I have not ordered pre-arrivals from them before, can you elaborate?

Ronaldo, I've read a lot of stories on this (and other forums) on folks trying (calling, calling, calling) Premier Cru to get their wines that they ordered on pre-arrival without much help. They all wind-up getting their wines, but the work and delay involved had upset a few (to put it mildly).

Appreciate the TN - nicely done. Looks like this stuff is finally coming on shore and the waiting is over. Guess the west coast should see some soon too.

One little detail - Daniel Thomases is Wine Wine Advocate's Italian reviewer now, so Bob no longer does any of the Italian reviews - it was not his 98 pt. score. I say this, because Daniel is a very tough scorer, and 98 pts is one of the very highest scores I have ever seen him award. The saying goes "a Thomases 90 is equal to a Parker 94", but I'm not sure what that makes a Thomases 98 worth

Enjoy this modern Aglianico, should be a sexy star. I'm probably looking forward to the '99 San Gregorio Taurasi Riserva even more - Thomases 95 pts., also just arriving. Modern Taurasi, but damn good stuff and I suspect a little more restrained and elegant. Serpico on the other hand is much more an exercise in concentration/extraction, and personally I prefer it with some bottle age and secondary evolution. Only then can you find the inner soul of Aglianico.

ciao, rico

As for PC - they're selling far in advance of arrival (that's why it's a PRESALE) and you may have to wait a bit longer than you might like, but they are a top flight reputable direct importer offering some of the best prices in the country. Most of the stuff they sell is for long term aging, so what's the big hurry anyway? Not much different than buying early tranche Bordeaux futures where you wait two years, sometimes more, to get your wine, eh? If you want to waste money and pay more you can always seek out an alternate supply. Meanwhile they get my vote, loyalty and a good bit of my money.

The Wine Buyer has it available now, too, and they do ship to Virginia.

quote:

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Originally posted by jaimetown:

Ronaldo, unfortunately PC doesn't ship to VA. And not to mention stories of trying to get their "pre-arrivals"...

---

I think Wine Buyer ran out of it (again), too. Don't know if you know someone who commutes to DC for work, Jaimetown, but that's how I've gotten wine from locations that don't ship to Virginia. I have them ship it to my wife at work.

Good luck finding it!

An alternative Aglianico wine is available at Wine Library:

Feudi Di San Gregorio Taurasi Montevergine 1999 Price: $44.99 On Sale

It is also a 100% Aglianico... 95 Wine Advocate points and 90 Wine Spectator points. Not the 98 and 94 of the Serpico, but probably well worth trying.

Feudi di San Gregorio plants on volcanic soil "in the shadows of Mount Vesuvius." Comes from old vines (at least the Serpico does) of a native Italian grape from an interesting historical place.

Cool wine! I'm looking forward to trying it. Years from now!

Just to fuel the confusion the Montevergine is the Riserva I referred to above.

For what its worth, I just read a post on the Squires board concerning PC that was extremely positive. In short, one of the poster's wines had yet to arrive due to a problem with a European supplier backing out on a contract with PC. PC offered the poster 1)the chance to review the letter from the supplier 2) the option to receive another wine (RP95 rating) instead or 3) the option for money back or store credit. PC also said that should the poster desire to continue waiting that they were making all possible attempts to acquire the wine, even if they would lose money on the sales. To me, this is first rate in the honesty and integrity category. I think I will be happy doing business with them if this is their way to address problems.

Just managed to score 2 more bottles today locally @ $59.

This is actually a decent QPR at that price, IMHO!

I haven't even seen the 2001 here in Italy yet, and Feudi di San Gregorio is right around the corner.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Foghorn Leghorn,

Finally found the 2001 and tried it last night. All I can say is this is deep, dark, and tannic. Reminded me of the 1997 Poggio alle Mura BdM at release because of all the tannin and wood. Like chewing on a giant piece of oak. This wine is so dark that it stained my teeth, tongue, and lips dark purple, almost black. My wife kept laughing at me through dinner.

At this point the wine did not show much fruit at all, but I believe that it will come around very nicely in a few years. I'll try the rest of the bottle tonight and post updates.

L, please do post 2nd (and 3rd if don't put it all down!) night notes. I'd love to see what kind of fruit emerges through the sea of oak.

Tried again tonight. If you can believe it, it was actually MORE tannic tonight than last night. I don't mind tannin, but this wine is so tight right now there isn't anything coming through. I only poured a taste, so the next few nights I'll be testing the evolution of this wine. I've never had a wine more tannic the night after it was opened.

L, please keep posting as it evolves. thx.

I wasn't home last night so didn't try it, but if the night before was any indication last night wouldn't have been much of a change. I'll post tonight.