2010 Nerello Mascalese Vecchie Vigne

Masses of crushed black cherries laced with Christmas spice, lavender and dusty cedar waft up from the 2010 Nerello Mascalese Vigne Vecchie. It’s fleshy and round upon entry, offering ripe cherries, plums and burnt citrus that saturate the palate. Brisk acids work hard to add vibrancy and lift, in spite of the staining of concentrated primary fruit that lingers throughout the finish. The result is one of gravelly tension yet also satisfaction, like biting into a fresh yet tart raspberry. The 2010 Vigne Vecchie is the current release for this bottling, which spends six or seven years refining in 50- to 70-hectoliter Slavonian oak botti prior to bottling. It’s an experience wine, to say the least.