2013 Terredora di Paolo Fatica Contadina Taurasi Campania Italy 750 ml

Terredora di Paolo’s Fatica Contadina Taurasi is one of the world’s greatest deals in powerful, age-worthy red wine. Just a few cases of this bold, multidimensional red are imported to the US, though—setting off an annual scramble among top sommeliers and Italian-obsessed collectors for a share of this insider secret.

Thankfully, our own Master Sommelier Sur Lucero has a decades-long relationship with the iconic producer—allowing us to offer this top example of the “Barolo of the South” at a fantastic price. That’s a steal for a wine that delivers a similarly powerful experience as $70 names from more famous regions like Barolo or Brunello.

Sur poured every bottle of this Taurasi he could get his hands on while running Oenotri, downtown Napa’s temple to Italian food and wine—wowing Cabernet- and Barolo-loving guests with this powerfully rich red until the supply ran out. The wine’s aromas of plum, dried Montmorency cherries, tar, and walnuts are captivating, and the bold tannins, smoothed with age, pair perfectly with juicy, golden porchetta scented with rosemary and fennel.

Despite Taurasi’s under-the-radar status in the US, the appellation is justifiably famous within Italy. The wines from the area near Naples have been famous since Roman times, when Pliny the Elder sung the praises of the region’s potent Aglianco-based wines—and that same grape makes up Terredorra’s bottling today.

The estate is the product of Walter Mastroberardino’s uncompromising drive for quality—which prompted a split from his family’s legendary winery in 1994. Mastroberardino is the most important name in Taurasi, the standard-bearer whose bottlings from the ‘60s and ‘70s put the region’s wines on the international map. When Walter broke away, the family split up the vineyards, and now Terredora di Paolo owns some of the finest sites in Taurasi.

Those dramatic vineyards high in the mountains northeast of Naples are black with volcanic soil from Mt. Vesuvius, and laced with limestone from the ancient Mediterranean seafloor. Their combination of high altitude and warm climate creates an ideal environment for the native Aglianico.

The resulting grapes have thick skins and deep color, resulting in dark, brooding wines with powerful tannins. Terredora manages them with careful extraction and then commits to aging the wine fully to allow those tannins to soften. That means two years in barrel and an additional three in bottle before they think about releasing the wine. 

The tannins in the finished wine are present and rustic, lending it an authentic expression and thought-provoking structure. When we opened this bottle, its rich and sophisticated aromas were as inspiring as the notion of the region’s millennia of history.

Now, this Taurasi has started to strut its stuff, but it’s built for a nice, long sleep in the cellar if you so desire. Decanter’s World Wine Awards praised its “great ageing potential” in their 93-point review—which puts it in a special class for wines at this price. We’ll be stocking up, drinking some young and some in a decade as the wine grows more subtle and complex, perfect in either stage with a smokey chicken grilled under bricks.