Close
Search
Filters

Montevetrano 2012 150cl

IGT | Colli di Salerno | Italy
CHF 102.70
Critics scores
93 By Robert Parker
93 By James Suckling
93 By Robert Parker
93 By James Sukling
91 By Wine Spectator
91 By Wine Spectator
The 2012 Montevetrano has evidently embraced the heat of this warm summer season. This is a dark and exuberant wine, with bold fruit flavors of black cherry, spice, leather and chocolate that pop with intensity from the glass. The effect is seamless, soft and fully integrated. The wine shows a riper taste profile, for sure, that offers pleasure and opulence.<br/>The delightful and inspirational Silvia Imparato is a larger-than-life figure on the Campania wine scene. Her work with Consulting Enologist Riccardo Cotarella over the years has forever raised the bar on the region's vinous identity. Back with her first vintage of Montevetrano in 1991, she proved that great wines could be made here (especially in the unlikely Salerno area south of Naples where few other wineries exist). Percentages change according to vintage conditions, but the estate's namesake wine is usually a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Aglianico and 20% Merlot. On my visit to the beautiful estate, Silvia Imparato generously offered to open a few back vintages so that we could check the evolution of this iconic wine.
Producer
Montevetrano di Silvia Imparato
Campanian superstar wine, Montevetrano, burst onto the scene in 1995 and achieved cult status almost overnight. Italian photographer Silvia Imparato initially had just 4 hectares of vines south of Naples and made a little wine in 1991. Encouraged by the results she hired winemaker Ricardo Cotarella to help with the 1992 vintage. In 1995 she sent vintages 1991–1993 to Robert Parker who gave it a high score and famously called it the “Sassacaia of the south”. With this, the wine became sought-after overnight. The vineyard is on a south-facing slope with gravelly soils, and while the first vintage was 70% Cabernet and 30% Aglianico, the blend is now more typically 60% Cabernet, 30% Merlot and 10% Aglianico. Initially just 1000 bottles were made; now production is more like 30,000 bottles. The vineyard area has increased from 4 to 6 hectares and is planned to increase to 11 hectares in the near future; the expansion will stop when production reaches 50,000 bottles.