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Anthony Gismondi on Wine
Monastero Suore Cistercensi Benedictext
91POINTS
16¾/20

Monastero Suore Cistercensi Benedic 2018

Lazio, ItalyThis is not your typical Italian white wine. Unless, that is, you usually take of natural wine made by nuns. In the case of Coenobium, it's grown and raised by the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, under the guidance of Giampiero Bea, son of one of Italy's most prominent non-interventionist wine producers, Paulo Bea. The sisters produce a very little amount of red wine for this blend of roughly equal parts santgiovese and ciliegiolo, plus a tip of newly planted merlot in 2018 for the first time, from vines planted near their historical plots. Even with a 2 week maceration, this pours a pale, cloudy crimson orange hue, leading into a beguiling tapestry of black tea, wild plum, rock roses, and scrubby herbs, twinged with balsamic and rinsed with mineral salts. Tannins are nubby to negotiable, and acidity shines subtlely. All has the calm understatedness of a superfluity of sisters. Let this breathe upon opening, and take with a slight chill.Tasted: 05 July 2020Tasted by: Treve RingPrices:
Producer: Monastero Suor E Cistercensi CO TrappisteDistributors: Sedimentary Wines
Blend: Sangiovese - Ciliegiolo