Tenuta Ponte, Taurasi DOCG

Hello again, it’s me, David Lynch, back to cajole you into embracing Taurasi as the world-class red wine it is. Maybe you don’t need cajoling, but I’m compelled to do it anyway, because this appellation, and this wine, aren’t included enough in discussions of collectible, cellar-worthy reds from Italy. Most “fine wine” merchants and auctioneers focus almost exclusively on Tuscan and Piedmontese wines, but Taurasi—nicknamed “the Barolo of the south”—has always been one of Italy’s benchmark appellations. Crafted primarily from the dark and brooding Aglianico grape, which thrives in the volcanic soils of Taurasi (and in those of Monte Vulture, in neighboring Basilicata), today’s wine from Tenuta Ponte has shed much of the youthful ferocity typical of the variety. Its evolving tannins and broadened aromatic complexity are underpinned by deeply concentrated black fruit—another example of the pitch-perfect balance so many European wines achieved in 2010. Then there’s the price of this wine,