WTN: 2003 Taurino Salice Salentino - A Favorite Fails

2003 Taurino Salice Salentino Riserva (Puglia) This is the current release of one of my favorite every day Italian wines. 1999 and 2001 were wonderful. 2000 was big, monolithic and disappointing. 2003 is leaning more towards ’00. It’s big and brash with very ripe rancio fruit but thankfully has more acidity than ’00. Sadly though, the barrique overpowers the finish. Instead of some tar and earthiness on the back end, I’m left with chocolate covered raisins. Maybe the wood will integrate but at least ’04 can’t be that far away.

I too have loved this tremendous value in the past, Bill, although you may have liked the 2001 a little more than I did. For the same price (around $10 in my market), I've been opting for the Rocca dei Mori Sal-Sal over the last couple of years--although the '01 may be a tad over the hill now, and I haven't seen any subsequent vintages.

[Jenise]

Kind of what you'd expect from that vintage, isn't it? Looking forward to the 2004.

Jenise, what surprised me most wasnt the traits of the vintage but the excessive use of new oak. I hope that treatment doesnt continue in future vintages.