Vinous Media 96
The 2015 Taurasi Riserva Radici is elegance personified, captivating with a deeply seductive bouquet that blends black cherries, rose petals and cloves with hints of underbrush, smoky minerals and crushed ashen stone. With each tilt of the glass, it seems to grow in both volume and depth. It unleashes waves of silken textures across the palate, carrying notes of savory cherry sauce, balsam herbs and dark, dark chocolate complicated by earth tones, as red inner florals amass toward the close. While youthfully structured, the 2015 Riserva is almost impossible to put down, mixing sweet tannins with hints of tobacco and dark fruits that seem to last for up to a minute. Bury this in the cellar and recap the rewards, as this balanced beauty is a long-distance runner. The Riserva is refined for thirty months in a combination of 60% forty-eight-hectoliter casks and 40% used barriques.~E.G.

James Suckling 96
Super-elegant but really tight aglianico here with lightly peppery black fruit, colored with inky and spicy notes. With aeration, you move into the herbal zone, with fresh bay-leaf, chai and light rosemary. The palate is medium-to full-bodied and you feel all the aromas pent-up, ready to burst out. The tension here is palpable and this will need several more years before the firm tannins soften, allowing the wine to open up and flood your palate. Still be patient. Try from 2024.~J.S.

Decanter 94
First produced in 1986, Radici Taurasi is sourced from the upper part of the Montemarano vineyard at around 550 metres. A long maceration on the skins is followed by maturation for around 30 months in Slavonian oak barrels and French oak barriques, then a further 40+ months in bottle. More focused, concentrated and intense than Stilema Taurasi 2015, it has a powerful structure for ageing. Bloody and juicy, it reveals concentrated red and black berries on a grippy palate.~J.B.