2014 Martellotto Riserva "Il Capoccia" Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara
2014 Martellotto Riserva "Il Capoccia" Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara
The "Riserva" 2014 was in barrel for 24 months. The extended barrel aging led to a wine that has developed incredible depth of flavors, and an intoxicating nose. The wine is a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot.
One Italian sommelier described this wine as a “twenty-five year Cru Barolo.” Greg took this as a compliment. Except, I think this wine is even better. He would put this wine up against a Sandrone Cannubbi any day.”
For Greg, many of my greatest wine experiences have derived from imbibing the great classified wines of Bordeaux. Those wines are almost always blends with Cabernet and Merlot. In Happy Canyon, there is a small amount of Petit Verdot of very high quality. He is always pleased to acquire some Petit Verdot for my blends as he thinks it adds fantastic color, green peppercorn, violet flowers and color, and vibrancy that is essential. The signature feature of this wine, however, is the result of extended barrel aging. Greg Martellotto's instinct tells me that this wine will be exceptionally long-lived. Unfortunately, however, he only produced 12 barrels. I named this wine "Il Capoccia" which means "Bossman" in Southern Italy. The wine is bottled in a heavy gauge bordeaux bottle that could probably be used as a lethal weapon. If you are lucky enough to grab a bottle of this wine, he is confident it will impress you.