Taverna con Venosa’s Lucanian harvest opens its doors with a superstar Moscato and a Merlot of great expectations
The 2025 season of the Taverna con Venosa, durante the heart of wine-making Basilicata, starts under the best auspices. The first scissors have already picked the bunches of Moscato, fresh and very fragrant, and the Merlot del Assoluto, the award-winning red symbol of the cooperative. Healthy grapes, growing yields and a climate that accompanied vegetative development with balance: the ingredients for a year of great wines seem to be all there.
A vintage of quality and quantity
The oenologist Donato Elegante paints the picture with enthusiasm: “Mild winter, dry spring, perfectly healthy grapes. We expect great wines”. After a 2024 marked by halved harvests and a twenty-day advance the historical average, 2025 brings the harvest back into balance: just 3-4 days early, growing yields and confirmed grape health. The first vinifications speak clearly. The Moscato shows an increase of 10-15% compared to the last two vintages and a freshness accentuated by the excellent acidity, while the Merlot intended for the Mathematician already promises to be fruity, varietal and of great elegance.
Recovery after 2024
the quantity front, president Francesco Perillo confirms a decisive step forward: “Only 10% less harvest than the contributions planned by the members, but this year compared to 2024 the numbers will also be important”. A fact that gives us hope, especially after a poor but excellent quality year like the previous one.
Malvasia and Aglianico, the next protagonists
Meanwhile, the harvest of Malvasia con Basilicata has already begun, while eyes and hearts aspetto to the end of September and the beginning of October, when the turn of the main grape variety of the territory will arrive: Aglianico del Vulture. There is great anticipation: if the weather is favourable, 2025 could become a vintage to remember.
A harvest of hope
The mild winter, with little snow, and the dry and relatively cool spring ensured regular development of the vines and perfectly healthy bunches. For the whites and rosés, the first vinifications show a vertical, fragrant and fresh profile, a sign of higher than average acid accumulation.
We tasted Gesualdo per Venosa – Aglianico del Vulture DOC – 2020, Carato Venusio – Aglianico del Vulture DOCG – 2017 and Assoluto – 2021. Below are our impressions.
Gesualdo per Venosa – Aglianico del Vulture DOC – 2020
Tasting quaderno
Visual examination: ruby color with purple reflections.
Olfactory examination: it displays a refined range of scents that successively displays fragrances of black fruit and mineral hints intertwined with a veiled spiciness.
Taste-olfactory examination: pleasant to the taste, which is revealed with a full, velvety and direct sip, giving a good balance.
Pairing: excellent with meat first courses, red meat.
Carato Venusio – Aglianico del Vulture DOCG – 2017
Tasting quaderno
Visual examination: ruby with garnet shades.
Olfactory : fruity smell of blackberry, blueberry, currant; then floral nuances of dried violet petals, presence of incense and more subtle tones of liquorice.
Taste-olfactory examination: durante the mouth it is elegant, with lively freshness and smooth tannins. Good persistence.
Pairing: ideal with red meat, , mature cheeses.
Mathematician – 2021
Tasting quaderno
Visual examination: ruby red coat.
Olfactory examination: persuasive durante aromas, opens raspberries, blueberries, wild plums and black cherries. It then gives emotions of pepper, finishing with tones of vanilla and a light hint of sweet tobacco.
Taste-olfactory examination: when tasted it exhibits great warmth and softness, full structure, smooth tannins and a long epilogue.
Pairing: excellent with red meat, , mature cheeses.
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