Published by Jeremy.
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One thing we love about wine is finding varietal bottles featuring grapes that are historically used for blending. In the Etna region of Sicily, Nerello Cappuccio is one such grape, often found in small proportions with more commonly grown grapes, like Nerello Mascalese (the dominant red grape of Etna DOC).
So when we stumbled upon a varietal bottle when tasting at Benanti, we were overjoyed. Even better? It was a fantastic bottle, and we bought one of the bottles to age a little bit more at home.
The staff at Benanti recommended not holding onto it for too long, as it was drinking really well at the time, so our curiosity got the best of us about a year later and we opened it up when it was about 11 years old.
What a treat this one was!
Nerello Cappuccio Should Be Used More Than Blending
This Nerello Cappuccio was pale garnet in color with medium aromas of dried black cherry, clove, tobacco, leather, chocolate, cassis, dried cranberry, violet, blackberry, and dried leaves.
On the palate, it was dry with medium(+) acidity, flavor intensity, and finish, plus medium chalky tannin, alcohol, and body. We had notes of dark cherry, dried cranberry, dried red cherry, clove, cedar, leather, caramel, blueberry, blackberry, vanilla, chalk, red plum, and wet leaves.
In a way, this one reminded us a lot of an aged Cabernet Franc, and true to their claim was likely at peak drinking window (although we're always curious on how much more these great old wines can go!). All around, a lovely bottle of wine and a grape we wish we could find more varietal bottles of!
Nerello Cappuccio Food Pairing – Steak with Polenta and Mushrooms
We always love pairing an old red wine with appreciable tannin with a great steak, and this bottle demanded a seasonal feast- loading up with polenta, mushrooms, fiddleheads, and ramps.
The steak cut through the tannin in the wine nicely, and brought out more blueberry, blackberry, vanilla, and a light forest floor note on the finish. The polenta was topped with mushrooms and truffle oil and brought out more dried red cherry notes in addition to the blueberry and vanilla as previously noted. Likewise, the vegetal notes of the fiddleheads and ramps also brought a red fruit note out as well while masking some of the dried leaves which we enjoyed.
All around, a worthy pairing for a great wine!
Score 4 / 5
We'd buy another bottle of this one.
Benanti's Nerello Cappuccio is a classic sign of why some grapes should not be relegated to blending status. This one held up on its own, even with age, and was such a good bottle all around that we'd easily buy another- both to enjoy now and to age further.
Benanti Winery is located at Via Giuseppe Garibaldi 361 in Viagrande, Italy. We purchased this bottle directly from the winery and enjoyed it in 2025.
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