“This is a seriously good buy in red wine for this price.”
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My first encounter with the Copertino Riserva was back in 2017. It was arguably the best red on the wine list at our favorite restaurant, the now-defunct Otus Supply in Ferndale. We’d order a bottle every time we dined there, and it was a great match for things like their Wagyu Beef Tartar, Filthy Animal Pizza (pesto, pine nuts and guanciale) and Rigatoni Alla Norcina. We even bought some bottles from their takeout menu to enjoy at home, and the wine never failed to please.
Sadly, Otus Supply has gone the way of all things, but successive vintages of the Copertino are still available. I waxed rhapsodic about the 2012 and 2013 vintages last January, and I was delighted to find the latest vintage last week at Plum Market in West Bloomfield last week, so, of course, I brought some of that home to try, and was not disappointed in the least.
2015 Cantina Sociale Cooperativa Copertino Riserva, 13% alc., $13.99: This is a very nice follow-up to the delicious 2013 Copertino that I mentioned above. (Wonder what happened to the ‘14?) It has that same smoky mahogany, dried cherry and leather personality that I have loved since we went through so many of Dr. Taurino’s wines from the Salento region in the late ‘80s and early-to-mid 90s. What it loses in the mellowed and resolved tannins of the ‘13, it gains in intensity and exuberance with this vintage, and it’s not too tannic to drink tonight. Sure, it’ll improve with at least a few years in the cellar, so do what I do. Buy some to lay down for a while, and buy a few more to enjoy this weekend. This is a seriously good buy in red wine for this price. Predominantly Negroamaro with a small percentage of Malvasia Nera, fermented and aged in stainless steel. Find this wine
Imported by Banville Wine Merchants, North Bergen, NJ
You might still be able to find that 2013 vintage around town, but it’ll probably cost you around $16 or $17. I have also seen the 2015 in at least one other wine department, priced at $15.99, so the Plum Market price is the lowest I’ve found up to this point, and that is where I’ll be going back for more. I just love this stuff.
“The Copertino Cooperative was established in 1935 when a group of visionary growers, from a tiny town in the heart of the Salento peninsula’s wine growing region, decided to produce higher quality wine from their traditional indigenous grapes. By maintaining lower yields in the vineyards and with meticulous attention to detail in the cellar, the resulting wines emphasized the terroir of the region and the DOC Copertino was ultimately established in 1976. Today the cooperative numbers 300 proud members who each manage their own harvest. The area under vine is made up of 300 hectares planted mostly to traditional varieties: Negroamaro, Malvasia Nera, and Primitivo. The DOC Copertino is located in Salento in the south of Puglia on a clay soil structure on top of hard limestone (tufa) that lies just above sea level. In the cellar, during vinification and aging, the goal is to emphasize the character of the region through distinctive wines of elegance and harmony.”
Reporting from Day-twah,
Bastardo
