2018 CaLaFe Taurasi
– Under $40 – Amazing Value for Such a Beautiful Wine
– Almost Volnay-like in Aromatic Impact, Balance and Weight
– No Idea How He Does This
– Nose: Incredibly Complex and Gorgeous
– Beautiful Plum Flowers
– Swirling Maelstrom of Licorice, Blackberry, Plum
– Insane, Deep Aromatics Like Great Cornas
– Palate – A Thing of Beauty
– Liquid Lilacs
– Blackberry Fruits So Integrated with the Florals
– Internal Aromatics are Amazing
– Will Age a Decade Plus
– This Is A Wine of Pure Elegance and Beauty
2018 CaLaFe Ariavecchia Greco di Tufo
– The Next Ariavecchia After 2013 and 2019
– Only Declared in Excellent Years (An Old School Riserva)
– Potential to Be His Greatest Vintage of This Wine
– The CaLaFe Balance and Elegance
– Combined with the Power of 2018
– Nose: Apricot, Some Smoke, Almonds, Hazlenuts
– Very Dense
– Palate – Remarkably Dense
– Apricots, Some Petrol, Orange Skin, Hazelnuts
– As it Opens, the Freshness of a Mountain Stream
– The Incredible Restrained Richness of Great Burgundy
– Remarkably Ageworthy Will Last 2 Decades Plus
– Please Forget the Price – One of Italy’s Great Whites
– We Just Get a Great Deal and Have Low Markups
– CASE PRICING – You Will Regret Not Buying a Case – We Don’t Know When The Next One Will be Made. Could Be 5-6 Years.
The Wines I Open to Blow My Colleagues in the Wine Business Away
What people think people in the wine business drink when they get together:
DRC, Roumier, Giacomo Conterno.
What we actually drink:
CaLaFe, Brisset, Gunther Steinmetz.
It doesn’t take much skill to bring a bottle of DRC to a wine dinner. It takes a lot of money (and people in the wine business typically don’t have $6,000 to burn on a bottle of La Tache). But if you really want to flex on the people in your industry, you bring a bottle of something that they have never had, never even heard of and is incredible and, just as important, an amazing value. Because let’s face it – wine is a competitive business and we are all trained to try and find great values for the money. And the person who does that is king. That’s how you “win” the night. And, I’m not going to lie, I like to win.
What you really want is for your colleagues to say, “wow – where did you find that and how does it cost that little?”
Which is why this is a great winery for me for these kinds of dinners. The wines are absolutely world class. Especially with some age. They are incredibly elegant and distinctive. And they age incredibly, incredibly well.
CaLaFe – An Act of Love
Like many great things, these wines are born from love. In this case, the love of a grandfather for his 3 grandchildren Camilla, Laura and Federica (the first 2 letters of each of their names spell out CaLaFe). Benito Petrillo was in publishing and bought a mere 2 hectares to start this winery. The results have been miraculous. I get the sense that the owner doesn’t do much marketing and would be just as happy to drink the wines and share them with friends and family. The prices are not at all reflective of the quality. This was our first winery from Campania and it’s become a list favorite.
The Wines
The first wine, is the 2018 Calafe Taurasi for $37.99 a bottle on a 4 pack purchase. This is an utterly insane value. This wine is a wine that shows that Taurasi is one of the great wines of Italy in the right hands.
First, this is a totally different wine than the riserva – but not an inferior one. The riserva has that incredible depth and density (while maintaining a balance and elegance). The regular Taurasi release we are selling today is a wine of remarkable elegance and beauty.
The nose is a swirling maelstrom of licorice, blackberry, plum and a hint of blood. Beautiful, beautiful plum flowers. It’s one of those wines where on the first sniff, you cock back your head in sheer surprise. It’s got those dark fruits but insane, deep aromatics like a great Cornas can be have a great year but totally different.
The palate is simply awesome. Almost Volnay-like. Liquid lilacs? But denser. Some blackberry fruits but very integrated with the florals – with just the sweetest licorice you can imagine. Nicely balanced. The internal aromatics are amazing and you want to sit with this all night. And you will. This wine has the craziest structure and those late breaking Aglianico tannins. I can see it lasting for at least another decade.
Incredible almost shocking levels of spice show up on the finish like a crescendo to end the coda in a symphony.
This is, of course, 100% Aglianico and aged 24 months in 500-1,000 liter barrels and then for another 24 months in bottle. One of the Nicely balanced. The internal aromatics are amazing and you want to sit with this all night. And you will. This wine has the craziest structure and those late breaking Aglianico tannins. I can see it lasting for at least another decade. . This is $50 if you slap Cornas on the label.
The second wine is a wine we’ve been waiting to sell for quite a while. It’s the 2018 Calafe Ariavecchia Greco di Tufo for $39.99 a bottle on a 4-pack and $38.99 each on a case purchase. This wine is sort of the stuff of legends at Fass Selections. This is like an old school Riserva in that they only declare it in excellent years.
The 2018 has the potential to be perhaps the greatest of them all. The genius of Benito Petrillo is that he manages to get the density from his southern climate (he is near Naples) but somehow, none of the heat or rustic burliness that Southern Italian wines can often have. I honestly have no idea how he does it. It’s at the top of my list to finally visit the estate and find out (I’ve only tasted with them at VinItaly).
The nose on this is packed. It’s almost a standard version of this wine with the density ramped up a bit from the vintage. You get those intense dried apricots, some hazelnuts. A hint of some deep citrus oil. Orange flowers. There is a bit of that unique Greco aromatic that blows off with some air. From previous experience, this fades to the background and integrates in a beautiful distinctive way with bottle age.
The palate is gorgeous. That contained density that Petrillo has mastered. Yes, you have what you’d expect. Apricots. Hazelnuts.
Please call Cheryl at 949 378 5251 after emailing with your first order if you are a first time customer (we prefer not to receive credit card numbers over E-Mail).
OFFICE HOURS 4-7 PM
I love drinking and selecting wines – but my passion for teaching people about wine is almost as big. I’m happy to announce a block of time each day where people can call me just to chat about wine in general. These blocks are NOT intended to sell wine (I do that all day). This is to talk to me about wine pairings or great producers or how long to age wines or styles of wine making or the latest wine controversy. My goal is to help people learn more about wine and enjoy it more. Call me at 917-912-4355 from 4-7EST Monday – Friday.
2018 CaLaFe Taurasi – $39.99 ($119.96 4-pack)
(VERY LIMITED)
2018 CaLaFe Ariavecchia Greco di Tufo – $41.99 ($131.96 4-pack, $371.88 12 bottle case {$38.99!) (VERY LIMITED)
This Offer is Not Available to Retailers, Wholesalers or Restaurants
Shipping will be charged when wine ships.
These will be shipped in the Fall of 2024
Fass Selections is not responsible for typos
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A Word about Fass Selections and Social Media
I am big into certain social media and I want people to take pictures of the wines they have received or will receive and tag me in them and share their thoughts. I a am on Instagram. Please tag me there. I also am on Delectable which I love a lot. It is Iphone/Ipad only, but it’s like Instagram meets Facebook for wine. Tag me there and find me there as well. I want to know if you liked the wine, were not moved by the wine, hated the wine or the wine gave you a religious experience. I want to know it all. Feedback is key and I will answer all feedback e-mails as quickly as I can.
For all billing and invoicing inquiries please contact Nick at accounts@fassselections.com or 646-498-6078