Premi

The 2014 Tancredi is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Nero d’Avola. The wine is creamy and dense with excellent concentration and a smooth style that leaves an
especially warm feeling in the mouth. Tancredi is one of those goto wines when you want something good, but you don’t want to think too hard. It offers happy, quality drinking. This is my favorite
vintage of Tancredi to date.

Clove, vanilla and dust character comes through on the nose, but there’s plenty of underbrush, pine needles and brambleberries to counter that. The palate shows a structured, tannin backbone that’s quite chewy, and the dark fruit flavors roll over spicy components to the medium-long finish. Drink in 2020.

Score: 91/100 – Issue Jul 31, 2018

Tasting Note: A harmonious, medium- to full-bodied red, offering expressive flavors of ripe black currant and herbed olive, with hints of ground espresso and woodsy spice structured by grippy yet well-meshed, tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon, Nero d’Avola and Syrah. Drink now through 2028.

Forest floor, scorched earth, grilled herb and oak-driven spice aromas come to the forefront along with mature dark-skinned berry. The juicy medium-bodied palate delivers cassis, mature plum, toast and star anise framed in taut fine-grained tannins.

Plenty of fresh herb, blackcurrant and tomato leaf. Medium to full body, chewy tannins and a flavorful finish. A blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Better in 2019.

A rich and opulent white with sliced apple and honey character. Full body, layered and fruity. Lightly oily. Delicious now.

Pantelleria, an island off the coast of Sicily that is closer to Africa than Rome, has the potential to produce wonderfully sweet wines.  Donnafugata, one of Sicily’s top producers, consistently fulfills that potential with their Ben Rye, a wine made from the Muscat of Alessandria grape.   It delivers an intriguing combination of honey-like sweetness, without being cloying, balanced by a hint of apricot skin-like bitterness.   Serve it with cheese, especially pungent ones, fresh fruit or as dessert. I advise against serving it with sweet desserts because the two will fight.  Sold in a 375-ml (half-bottle), this serves six easily.

Best Sweet Southern Italy

Pretty dark gold color indicating the grapes have been dried outside in the bright sun of the island of Pantelleria. Wonderful aromas of apricots and orange jam with hints of toffee. Full body, very sweet and dense. Bright fruit and acidity with a underlying nuttiness. Fabulous dessert wine as always. Drink and enjoy.

Bright amber-gold. Penetrating aromas of aromatic spices and tropical fruit, complicated by honey and peach nectar. Saline and brightly acid, showing lovely lift to the rich, sweet flavors of spicy stone fruit, mango and grilled plantain. Long, rich and ripe but also very precise, showcasing lovely balance; I would have never guessed this has 199 g/L of residual sugar (the 7.9 g/L total acidity helped fool me). Strikes me as a much more freshly and lightly styled wine than some past vintages of Ben Ryé, but each will have its fans. Drinking window: 2016 – 2025. (Ian d’Agata)

Miglior Vino Dolce Italiano.
Basisce la concentrazione aromatica, nettissima e illibata della sua uvosità perduta. Giunge al profumo una fragranza e un’abbondanza profusiva di uva su polpa di susina che rifulge della sua ricchezza olfattiva assolutamente esplosiva. Algidità di cedro, di pistacchio di fiore. Agrume a chili. L’amaro dov’è? In nessun dove. Così il rustico e l’ammandorlato dell’ossidazione. Naturalezza, spaziosità, freschezza. Impressioni che per via della fenomenale ricchezza paiono non perdere mai la loro squisita, aromatica, vanigliata e poi congenita dolcezza. Un gran vino dolce non passito ma poderoso e possente, un’essenza di natura sommamente cremosa. Un archetipo di massima pulizia, morbidezza e fittezza dell’uva nativa.

Funkelndes, sattes Goldgelb. Verwobene Nase mit Noten nach kandierten Orangen, Feigen, Datteln, unterlegt von Noten nach Jasmin-Blüten. Am Gaumen cremig, entfaltet sich geschmeidig, feine Feigennoten, im Nachhall satt nach getrockneten Marillen und hellem Honig. Gottardi, Innsbruck;

Questo passito naturale rappresnta il solito capolavoro tecnico, culturale, umano: in bocca si esprime con progressione infinita, chiudendo con un’amabile nota di pasta di mandorla

Ripe flavors of glazed nectarine and apricot leap from the glass in this vibrant sweetie, with accents of blood orange, grated coconut, candied ginger and cardamom. Drink now through 2029.—A.N.

The excellent 2014 Passito di Pantelleria Ben Ryé (375 ml) opens to beautiful intensity and irresistible richness. The wine is sweet and generous with candied fruit, honey, marzipan, brown sugar and apricot. This celebrated Sicilian dessert wine o?ers a luminous golden color with amber highlights. In the mouth, it exhibits soft lines and deep layers of sun-ripened fruit. Ben Ryé is a wine with a proven track record of aging 20 years or more. (Monica Larner)