Cantina sociale Cooperativa di Copertino Riserva Copertino Red Blend 2016

ITALY : PUGLIA : COPERTINOSUSTAINABLE : NegroamaroFULL-BODIED, BLACKBERRY, DRIED CHERRY, LEATHER, MEDITERRANEAN HERB, UNOAKEDCupertinum is Copertino DOC's 90-year-old cooperative — 300 growers farming the same flat Salento plain that has been planted to vines since the 1500s. The cooperative built its reputation by doing what most Italian cooperatives didn't: holding back its best parcels for an estate-bottled Riserva and releasing it only when the vintage earned the designation.Negroamaro — "black-bitter" in the local dialect — is Salento's signature red grape, a late-ripening variety that builds deep color and dark fruit easily in this sun-drenched plain, then offsets the richness with a pronounced savory bitterness and a bright orange-peel note. It's the structural opposite of a jammy southern Italian red.The 2016 Riserva is fermented on skins for eight days and aged entirely in stainless steel — no oak, no vanilla, no masking of the grape's natural character. The result is a textbook expression of Negroamaro at its most transparent: concentrated without being heavy, bitter-fruited without being austere. The 2016 vintage was widely regarded as one of the finest in recent southern Italian memory.PAIRINGS : Grilled lamb chops dark fruit and firm tannins cut through lamb fat Braised short ribs slow-cooked collagen softens the wine's structure Aged Pecorino bitter finish and dried fruit complement sharp sheep's milk

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