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Italy

Rivera Cappellaccio Aglianico Riserva  2001,  D.O.C. Castel del Monte.**HERITAGE WINE**

Colour: dark red with some browning in the rim.
Nose: quite expressive, classical, phenolic and balsamic nuances accompanied by beautiful restrained fruit, spices, mature impressions of tea and herbs, great elegance and depth, refinement and balance, a bit austere, but with lots of hidden treasures only showing part of their beauty. Gives me associations with a mature and exotic high quality Médoc.  Both exciting and intriguing character.
Taste: medium body, quite compact, with many tannins, a beautiful acidity, a bit austere, good depth of flavour with an intense core of balsamic, spicy and mineral nuances, a touch of sweetness (ripeness), still a bit closed, but starting to bud into maturity, great balance, outstanding integration of the wood. Classy wine with breed and style.
Finish: quite long, impressively balanced, fresh, with fruit, spices, classical tannins and beautiful balsamic maturation aroma's, classy and refined.

* A wine of great class because of its beautifully concentrated and balanced structure with freshness, tannins and fruit, wonderful aromatic expression with spicy, balsamic and restrained fruit. A rare combination of balanced elegance, power, refinement, depth and complexity.  A bit austere, not an easy pleaser, but loaded with breed and style.  Great value for money.

- Drink from now on, will improve over the next couple of years, will keep in a good cellar up to five or more years.

- Produced by one of the most reliable, well organized and quality oriented producers in this part of Puglia. An intelligent mix of modern technology, good vineyards, high quality grape varieties and most importantly deep knowledge, skill and passion makes Rivera a superb performer and prime example in Puglia. An impressive range of very good to excellent wines, is produced: from the freshest rosé (Rivera Rosé 2004) to the most rich, powerful and impressive red (Puer Apuliae Nero di Troia 2002). Of the wines I tasted from this producer the irresistible Rosé and the outstanding Cappellaccio are my favourites. The Cappellaccio is produced from the Aglianico grape, mainly found in Campania (Taurasi), but also successful in other warm parts of Italy. This grape never gives "easy" wines. The high acidity and strong tannins always stand out in the wines. It is not an easy grape to make wine from, but in a way you can compare it with the Cabernet Sauvignon in its prime region Médoc. In good hands you can make the most beautiful wines imaginable with it. Well handled in both vineyards and winery it rewards the producer with a wine that is both elegant and powerful but also refined and complex. It is also very capable of ageing, giving a wine that can be seen as classic with an intriguing aromatic character. If you hate tannins in combination with pronounced acidity this is probably not the wine for you, but if you value aromatic complexity and elegance over softness and richness, you can not ignore this wine.

- lotnr.: LD 781 C

- tasted: 21-04-'05

- estimated retail price ca. 10 euro

- average production: not indicated

- Azienda Vinicola Rivera, Mr. Sebastiano de Corato, SS 98, km 19.800, Contrada Rivera, 70031 Andria (Ba) Italia; Tel. +39-0883 569501; fax.: +39-0883 569575 ; e-mail: info@rivera.it ; web site: www.rivera.it
- export agent: Enoteca Nederland,  Mr. Maarten Bonants, tel.: +31-344613736, fax.: +31-344612550, e-mail: info@enoteca.nlenoteca@planet.nl