INSIDER'S PICK: 2020 MASSERIA LI VELI SUSUMANIELLO SALENTO 'ASKOS' $23.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

Even though Puglia is one of the oldest wine growing cultures in Italy, now working into its 5th millennia, it's one of the least recognized and followed by modern consumers. After the European phylloxera epidemic in the late 1800s devastated the vineyards, the region was slow to replant, and the largely agricultural zone felt heavy pressures after both WWI and WWII that slowed their development even further. In recent years most of the world has grow familiar with their most prevalent and successful grapes Negroamaro and Primitivo, but there are still secrets there to unearth. Susumaniello is among the lowest planted varietals in the region, but has seen a considerable bump in popularity as more focus has come to embracing native varieties. This isn't just a fun wine because of the rarity, but because it's REALLY good, a noticeable step up from the winery's more everyday Negroamaro and Salice Salentino. Where many of the wines here are juicy but a bit simple, Susumaniello is deeper and more complex, layering in more black fruits and spice, even a bit of tannic structure in with the polished mouthfeel. Loads of warm raspberry and blackberry on the nose with pepper and dried spices, very fleshy on the palate but not cloying thanks to the fine tannin that allows a bit of savory tones to get in and firms up the finish. It has a bit of a character like a classic California 'Field Blend' that has a fair mix of other varieties in the vineyard that provide another layer to a mostly Zinfandel base. A great match with grilled foods and spicier rubs or smoked meats.

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