This Italian red is a fruity, smooth wine with (according to Anthony) very light tannis that start the front of your tongue and slowly recede down the center. Hints of dark cherry, black raspberries and currants linger. My very uneducated pallet just thought it was smooth, not too spicy, not very tannon-y, but flavorful, and would go very well with the rest of the flourless chocolate torte he brought home for me. :)Le Cupule is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cesanese, and Uva di Troia. I was familiar with the first 3 but had never heard of the others - so I did a little research. According to Wikipedia :), Petit Verdot is a red wine grape that is often used to add small amounts of tannin, colour, and flavour to a blend - probably making it responsible for the very slight bite in this wine? The Cesanese grape is grown primarily in the Lazio region of Italy and is of very old origin, many believing it can be traced back to Roman times (kind of cool!). And the Uva di Troia is from the Puglia region of Italy and is likely named after the town of Troia - founded by the Greek Diomedes!
Another thing I thought was interesting about this wine is that it is aged for 12 months in French barriques and then for 10 months in cement. I was like cement? I'm not sure how I feel about that. To which Anthony pointed out that the Roman's used cement to ferment wine 2000 years ago. Apparently, wine that spends some of its time in cement seems to come out more crisp and clean with clear undertones.
If you can find a bottle, they seem to run around $30. We just finished Anthony's last one. :(
