Acclaim

“Simple and fine, the 2017 Etna Rosso by Pietradolce shows an elegant but approachable personality. You get small-berry aromas with smoke, ash and crushed stone. The mouthfeel is thin and compact, but those small-berry flavors do last. I’d suggest a pairing with thin crust pizza or easy pasta dishes at home. This is a pure expression of Nerello Mascalese aged in large oak casks for three months. Some 15,000 bottles were made.” -Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, Dec. 31, 2018

“This has inviting aromas of wild berry that mingle with whiffs of wet stone and Mediterranean scrub. The full-bodied, polished palate offers Marasca cherry, ground clove, cured meat and a smoky note alongside a hint of iron. Drink through 2023.” -Kerin O’Keefe, Wine Enthusiast, Dec. 31, 2018

“From the glorious island of Salina, the 2016 Hierà pours from the bottle with dark ruby or garnet intensity. The bouquet of this wine is intact with moments of playfully pungent fruit. You get dried cherry skin and blackberry tart with more dark, fruity blackness at the back. However, this vintage appears more fragile and less stable, in my opinion. I would suggest a relatively near-term drinking window to hedge your bets.” -Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, Dec. 31, 2018

“The 2014 Rosso Antonello is a blend of Calabrese, Sangiovese and Corinto Nero, aged in barrique. The wine opens to an inky dark appearance. The bouquet is profoundly Sicilian in character with black fruit followed by eggplant, caper and olive. In the mouth, the wine delivers a lot of pulp and texture. Indeed, it finishes with semi-sweet succulence.” -Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, Dec. 31, 2018

“The 2016 Malvasia Delle Lipari (packaged in a 500-milliliter bottle) is a forthcoming and beautifully intense dessert wine from a small satellite island off the northern coast of Sicily. The wine shows a dark golden color with radiant amber highlights. The bouquet is beautifully opulent and generous with candied orange peel, sweet almond paste, dried apricot and honey. In the mouth, this wine is silky, thick and beautifully rich. This really is something special. Malvasia delle Lipari is never a cloying or overdone dessert wine. Indeed, it is one of Italy’s most elegant dessert wines.” -Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, Dec. 31, 2018

“I preferred the Naturale version of this wine to the 2015 Malvasia delle Lipari Passito. Packaged in a 500-milliliter bottle, this dessert wine (made with air-dried grapes) shows a more determined and forceful nature. It opens to powerful aromas of dried fruit and apricot, and there is a musky note that reminds me of air-dried porcino mushroom. The wine shows bright orange color. It finishes with silky texture that is infused with honey-like flavors.” -Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, Dec. 31, 2018

“A tightly wound version, this red features cherry, plum, eucalyptus, iron and tobacco flavors on lockdown. The trim, compact finish isn’t yielding much today. Shows a bit more volume and sweet fruit than many of its peers. Best from 2023 through 2042.” -B.S., Wine Spectator, Dec. 31, 2018

“Creamy and medium-bodied, this lightly juicy white offers rich glazed apple and mirabelle plum notes, with delicate threads of spice, smoke and hazelnut winding through and lingering on the finish. Trebbiano Spoletino. Drink now through 2022.” –AN, Wine Spectator, Dec. 15, 2018

“Basilicata, the mountainous, largely isolated instep of the Italian boot, has been named Europe’s cultural capital for 2019. Don’t expect too may tourists. It’s difficult to get to Basilicata. There are no airports or high speed train lines, just narrow roads that climb up and twist down mountains. Despite centuries of conquests, the people here cherish their independence. They also love their idiosyncratic red wine, made with Aglianico grapes grown on the side of a volcano, Mount Vulture. Unlike Aglianico from Campania, it offers no pretense of elegance or sophistication. Instead, it is hearty and rugged, a wine to pair with wintry stews and pastas, and definitely not a wine for the faint of heart or palate. This example, at a very reasonable price, provides a delicious introduction if you don’t know it already.” -Paul Lukacs, Wine Review Online, Dec. 7, 2018

“Vigna Pressenda is a lively, buoyant Barolo with bright fruit tones and soaring aromatics. Scents of rosemary and juniper leap out at once, followed by notes of dark spice and florals. Flavors of fleshy plum and ripe berries mingle with sweet tomato notes, chalky tannins heightening the wine’s bright personality.” -Wine & Spirits, Dec. 1, 2018