27 Nov Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Feudi di San Gregorio Taurasi 2014 DOCG

On my travels to Italy recently, I visited the winery Feudi di San Gregorio and brought home a bottle of the 2014 Taurasi DOCG. While the wine already has five years of age on it, it can be aged for many more years. But, I could not wait and wanted to open and drink it now with some grilled meat. If Nebbiolo is king of Northern Italy, then Aglianico is king of the South and the Feudi di San Gregorio Taurasi 2014 DOCG is the Please The Palate Wine of the Week. Feudi di San Gregorio is located in the Avellino region in Campagna, otherwise known as Irpinia. Established in 1986, Feudi di San Gregorio has 890 different plots/vineyards, totaling 400 hectares. This includes vineyards in the Taurasi DOCG. In this region, very close to the winery, the vineyards sit among the Apennine hills of Avellino. And Aglianico is the grape of Taurasi DOCG. Feudi di San Gregorio’s Aglianico vineyards in Taurasi grow in sandy and volcanic soils and the vines are 100-200 years old. The wine spends 18 months in different sizes of wooden barrels and then one year in bottle. The Feudi di San Gregorio Taurasi 2014 DOCG is a brilliant ruby red color. On the nose, it has notes of blackberry and maraschino cherry, dried roses, nutmeg, leather, licorice and vanilla. On the palate it is a beautifully full-bodied wine with savory and spicy notes. And the wine is high in tannin and acidity. I enjoyed the 2014 vintage which I brought back from Italy but that vintage is not yet in the US. The current vintage in the US is 2013 and you can find the wine for $45.99.