Cosimo Taurino, Salice Salentino DOP (Puglia, Italy) 2012

 Cosimo Taurino is a family owned and run winery in Puglia, Italy.  The winery has been handed down for seven generations.  The current generation loved the Rosso Riserva and decided to hold their release until the wine had bottle-aged to their liking.  The 2012 is the current release and it’s just entering its drinking window.  This Salice Salentino Riserva still shows ripe red cherry, raspberry, and minerality but also has dried cranberry, tobacco leaf, and leather from the wine’s additional bottle aging.  This wine has just entered its drinking window and has plenty of room to develop further for those that keep bottles a few years before drinking.  Holding back wine can be a gamble for a winery, especially as it impacts the winery’s profit margin, but Cosimo Taurino felt this was the right choice.  I agree.  At $20, I am not sure I could find a wine of this quality and age elsewhere.  A blend of 90% Negroamaro and 10% Malvasia Nera.