Yes, another wine review, albeit brief. This is a wine I was totally unfamiliar with, and grapes, I confess to never having heard of. A 90/10 blend of Caprettone and Falanghina, in this 2017 edition, both indigenous grapes to the Napoli area, and rarely seen at this level. Some years the blend has additional “Greco” added, but this year saw the propensity of the Caprettone. The Italian name translates as the tears of Christ, and the producers are Cantine Matrone.
This wine came from my Italian Wine Club, Rimessa Roscioli and they have a wonderful way of sending tasting notes, videos, from the producers themselves.
But back to my own experiences. We were having monkfish, steamed in the oven, with a spinach risotto for dinner, so the bottle was chilled in the fridge before I extracted it with 20 minutes to go before serving up the food, as is my want. The colour of the first pour was amazing. I was not expecting such a golden shade in the glass, especially on such a relatively young wine.
The nose was less striking, in fact,somewhat disappointing. Maybe it needed time to develop, and I have seen reviews which indicated that the aromas expanded on day two after opening, but I would have to make my assessment solely on a single evening. There was a distinct lack of fruit coming through on the nose, some floral notes were there, but there was an overiding sense of minerality, wet stones, and a salient hint too.
Although the nose was lacking something, on the palate, the flavours did come through. A medium plus acidity level, and a firm texture, honey like in its viscosity, gave way to the fruit. Pear and green apple came to mind, and, surprisingly, there were red fruits in there too, amongst the earthiness and mineral components noted on the nose, a touch of raspberry.
The wine did compliment the food, and certainly the savoury notes from the earthiness worked well with the monkfish, which is of course, a very full bodied fish in itself, meaty and firm, which is how I would rate this wine. A full bodied trip to the volcanic terroir of Italy, and a journey I would be happy to return to in the future.
The Long Wine Road 