Whenever you get in a rut, wines like this invigorate all your sensibilities into reality. I have no idea where I got this–don’t even remember buying it or who gave it to me–just found it lurking in the *oddball* section of the cellar. Black, delicious and vibrant, it shocks and compels like no other. Every time I scroll through the FB groups for Napa and Sonoma and winelovers in general, I see the tone and the things they drink and I just want to tie them down and force a wine like this upon them. Would it be eye-opening? COULD it be a *turning-point* wine? Would they hate it. I suspect the latter.
Expectantly black, purple, and staining. Impenetrable in the glass, even at shallow pours. The kind of boggy, briary, stupendously gritty and greasy mineral, fruit and stony funk pouring out of the glass is eye-crossingly intense. A roundness and ripeness to the fruit in a category quite untouched by New World wines, and skews the descriptor. The vegetal concentration surrounding the cherry turns it bright and rich, sharp stands of petrichor and herbs de Provence creating savory-distinctness at each sniff. But it is SO thickly fruited: rhubarb and peat and a kind of berry nearly un-classifiable dancing around a sweaty core.
Drinking it is a calm exercise of putting the funk of olfactory intake aside for the fruit to pour in. So rich and concentrated, yet shrilly placing its acidic goals first-and-foremost. Blockbuster black, edgy and harsh, sumptuous cherry sharpened on jagged stone and mountain water inundate all. Religiously tannic, the beautiful fruit shines through even THAT, and the charisma of these wines is emphasized AGAIN. A stunning wine, just mind-boggling in texture and absolute FEEL. Pepper and rasp, anger and concentrated distinction, and still more ripe fruit, if I could remember where I got it, I would rush to buy a case for a one-a-year programme. This is a wine you should never say no to.
2016 VESCOVI ULZBACH Teroldego Rotaliano Classico DOC Alto-Adige Italy 13.0
Stephen McConnell 