2021 Montevetrano
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Tasting notes
Now celebrating its 30th anniversary (1991 to 2021), the 2021 Montevetrano is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Aglianico and 20% Merlot with fruit from a five-hectare parcel on clay soils that add to the fruit weight and definition of this headlining wine. The results are inky dark in concentration with blackberry, fruit preserves and a hint of sweet apricot. On second nose, you get tarry resin and spice. The wine is certainly rich, but it is not heavy, and its surprisingly less-than-full-bodied approach offers respite to the palate. I like the general accessibility and elegant darkness of this wine, which numbers 16,800 bottles in this vintage.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
This 30th anniversary bottling is a creamy, polished and fragrant red showing ripe plum, cherry, lavender, vanilla and sweet cocoa aromas. It’s full-bodied with broad and encompassing tannins, yet remains elegant and beautifully balanced. Lightly chalky in texture. A blend of cabernet sauvignon, aglianico and merlot. Best from 2026.
The 2021 Montevetrano is youthfully poised yet irresistible, with a bouquet of dried black cherries, cedary spice and hints of mint cascading up from the glass. This is cool-toned in feel, with silky textures and a wave of ripe red and blue fruits that swirls beneath an air of violets and lavender. It finishes fresh and classically structured, leaving spicy oak and a tart cranberry crunch to linger on. While warm, the 2021 vintage benefitted from rains in mid-August that brought much cooler conditions throughout the remainder of the season.
A total seductress, the 2021 Montevetrano impresses first with a vivid burst of crushed raspberry backed by a dusting of cocoa, sweet sage, pipe tobacco and lavender pastille. It's elegant in feel, with textures of pure silk and polished red fruits that ride a stream of brisk acidity as hints of citrus pinch at the cheeks and violet inner florals arch across the palate. Sweet tannins frame the finish beautifully as the 2021 tapers off with outstanding length and concentration, showing an inner harmony that guarantees over a decade of positive evolution. This has found a lovely balance with further bottle age.