This maturing Schioppettino demonstrates soft leather and damp earth on the nose, though the palate is lively with dark berries, an assertive structure, indicating a long life still ahead.

Bright red; looks very young for a twenty-plus year old wine. Perfumed aromas and flavors of strawberry, raspberry and blueberry, complicated by minty herbs and violet. Bright and juicy, with vibrant but harmonious acidity neatly extending the very precise dark and red berry flavors on the long, slightly herbal finish; a strong note of eucalyptus emerges with aeration. A wine of impeccable acid-tannin balance, it offers sneaky concentration and length. A lovely Schioppettino in which the eucalyptus note speaks of a slightly warmer year that makes a balsamic note present in the wine stand out. The 1996 vintage was another good one in the Cialla area, perhaps slightly warmer and drier (especially drier) than usual.