Wine Reviews

An array of confectionary spices, mocha and crushed wild blueberries wafts up from the 2020 Rosso Falerno del Massico. It’s silky and enveloping, with juicy acidity maintaining fantastic balance as violet-laced blackberries and hints of sour citrus add cheek-puckering tension toward the close. This finishes spicy with admirable length, leaving an air of lavender and a sour cherry concentration to linger

The 2018 Falerno del Massico is rich and expressive. A cooling smoke hint offsets its crushed blackberry and cherry bouquet. This washes across the palate with ease, juicy and fruitfocused, with lively acidity that maintains freshness throughout. It finishes gently tannic with a twang of tart wild blueberries and sour citrus hints. The Falerno del Massico is always one of my favorite bottlings from Villa Matilde for its balanced structure and vivid fruit profile.

A blend of 80% Aglianico and 20% Piedirosso, the Villa Matilde 2016 Falerno del Massico Avallone is a bright and punchy wine with lots of spicy white pepper and licorice that I identify with many of the indigenous grapes of Italy. The wine offers plenty of wild berry and cassis fruit as well. This is a tight and tonic mid-weight red to pair with a platter of good, old cacio e pepe.

This a broad shouldered red, delivering what you’d expect from Aglianico — tar and minerals and power. And tannins, too. But there’s underlying voluptuous cherry-like fruit to it, creating a lovely ying/yang of fruit and savory minerality. Balanced and fresh because of the ever-present enlivening acidity, it finishes with a haunting touch of bitterness.