I was delighted to see a positive review of Serra del Prete, Betty's unwooded, all steel-and-concrete-fermented Aglianico del Vulture. "Betty" is Elisabetta Musto Carmelitano, whose story I've told before. (Click here. No one fails to be impressed by this story or this young woman. Domenico Selections loves Betty!)
"Va bene, Strappo," you may reply, "but what positive review? Is it from any old Tom, Dick or Harry?"
"No!" I may retort. "It's by the man who writes many of the best wine reviews in the English language. Even if he lives in <gulp> Tennessee. Memphis. Tennessee. About a half a mile from that Mississippi bridge."
I refer, of course, to the wunderbar Fredric "Don't Call Me Fred!" Koeppel.
He pronounces it "Kepple" but I'm sure back in days of yore it sported an umlaut. Kööööööpel.
All joshing aside, here are a couple of highlights from Federico's review. (Go here for the whole article, which includes other wines we don't care about.)
"...my friends, this staggering wine spends six months in stainless steel tanks, four months in cement vats and two months in bottle before it is unleashed to an unsuspecting world."
Nice buildup, wot? Wait.
"The grape in question is aglianico del vulture — 'vool-CHUR-ay' — and it provides Serra de Prete 2007 with a color that’s like some nocturnal Lovecraftian deep purple shading into black; with intense and concentrated scents and flavors of licorice/oolong tea/tar-stained black currants; with a dense, supple, chewy texture that draws on the power of fathomless tannins; and a tone somber and brooding but not rustic or truculent. In fact, the blessing of keen acidity keeps the wine unexpectedly vibrant and resonant."
This guy can throw adjectives around like no one else. The only thing I take issue with is a factual one. The accent is on the first syllable: VOOL-too-reh.
Plus, I went to Brown and I hated Lovecraft and his icky fictions, even if he was a homey.
Note: Domenico Selections just got a new shipment of Musto Carmelitano wines, including the oaked-but-not-too-oaky Pian del Moro, a big-shouldered Aglianico that has the stuff to last a long long time.
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