2012AmpeleiaKepos2012 Ampeleia, Kepos di Ampeleia, IGT Rosso, Coata Toscana, Italy.
The new and exciting Maremma project by Elisabetta Foradori, Ampeleia Estate on the Tuscan Coast made in her all natural, biodymanic way using mostly Rhone varietals comes into life as this beautiful and seductive Kepos di Ampeleia 2012 made from a mix of Grenache, Mourvedre and Carignan(o) plus small amounts of Alicante Bouschet and Marsellan a grape that has found a great home to this region that was a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache. The Ampeleia was been around since the 2010, but not seriously imported until recently, the main wine is the Ampeleia that focuses on Cabernet Franc, similar to Duemani and Le Macchiole, but this Kepos is a gorgeous wine and looks set to be a star in it’s own right. The 2012 Kepos di Ampeleia is ruby/garnet hued with a heady perfume of dried and fresh flowers, Asian spice market and pomegranate lifts from the glass and leads to a palate of red raspberry, tangy currants, wild plum, strawberry and fleshy stone fruit along with pepper, tobacco leaf, mint and warm terra-cotta tiles. There is a light dream quality and charm to this medium weight wine, it certainly whispers I’m Italian, but exotic too, a lovely mysterious stranger, and there’s a hint of savory black licorice, cedar, earth and cinnamon stick that lingers with cherry and blueberry on the finish. Foradori, from the high regions of Alto Adige and near Trentino, and her team have made an easy adjustment to the warm Mediterranean Tuscan region, terroir which features clay, volcanic and schist soils and climate, and her wines are highly desirable and compelling, this Kepos especially and at 13% it is lively, complex and balanced, even in a warm vintage which highlights the care in the vineyards and in the cellar, drink from 2015 to 2020.
($26 Est.) 93+ Points, grapelive

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