A sweetly scented yet spicy and wildly intense display of cherry and blackberry preserves, mixed with notes of clove, sage, cedar and pipe tobacco, wafts up from the 2013 Taurasi Riserva Vigna Cinque Querce.

This enters the palate with silky elegance, yet quickly firms up, as salty minerals and tart red and black currants cascade across a core of brisk acids, leaving grippy tannins in their wake. It tapers off long but with hulking structure through the licorice-tinged and youthfully chewy finale, as hints of Baker’s chocolate and clove linger with persistence

. The 2013 is a dark and powerful Cinque Querce Riserva that demands your attention, yet it will require time to integrate its oak and tannins.