My son took us to his favorite ‘top secret, no one can know about this’ music coffee shop in Osaka this past spring. It’s so special he’s worried Japan’s rampant Instagrammers are going to discover it and ruin the place. Anyway, I had a sonic epiphany there as the multi-tiered sound system the old gentleman who owns the place had created an experience the likes I had never experienced before. Trust me. Beethoven never sounded so amazing! It sent shivers down my spine. The coffee was amazing too! And, no. I won’t tell you where it is. In my 35+ years in the wine business I’ve been lucky enough to have had similar life-changing bottles of wine- wines that you figured would be great but, somehow, were transcendent instead! Such it was with this state-of-the-art bottle of Taurasi. Taurasi? Yes! This small appellation in the Apennine foothills of Campania is not called ‘the Barolo of the south’ for nothing! And we’ve had many wonderful experiences over the years with wines like Mastroberardino’s marvelous Taurasi Riserva and Antonio Caggiano’s Old School masterpieces, but Tenuta Capaldo’s Gulielmus is something else entirely. This five-hectare estate is a sort of passion project for Feudi di San Gregorio’s legendary owner Antonio Capaldo. Feudi had become so large that he felt he had lost touch with the soil and it became something of a mission for him to create something new, much more hands-on and a lot more focused on the unique terroir of the region. The new project is small- very small- a one-red and a one-white small. In fact, the red, a 100% Aglianico wine, comes from a single two-hectare site sitting at 700 meters in Sala, in the heart of Irpinia and the Taurasi growing region. The vines were progenerated from extremely old material- some vines that actually predated phylloxera- and produce deeply concentrated grapes rich in the aromas and flavors of this very singular part of southern Italy. Capaldo ages the wine for two years in smaller oak barrels and then in bottle for two more in order to tame some of Aglicanico’s ferocious natural tannins creating an end result made more complex by its pure simplicity: Taurasi played through, if you will, an amazing sound system- crystal clear, incredibly focused and a window into the very soul of all that makes this amazing part of the world so special. Dark as pitch and as pungent and wild as the arid hills on which it was grown, aromatically, it evokes wild herbs and bracken, faded rose and, more than anything, a core of deep, deep dark, dusky plum-mulberry fruit. On the palate, it’s plush, pleasing and really full until the crescendo where the wine once again reminds you it’s Aglianico with its really bright acidity and firm, life-giving tannin. Not Beethoven, perhaps. More like ‘Switched-On-Bach!’ Drink this ultra-distinctive red now with spicy, meaty tomato-based sauces, lamb- especially grilled, braised or grilled beef or richer or aged cow’s or sheep’s milk cheeses. This is, really, a tour de force, category-changing wine! Sound good?

Wine Spectator: A gorgeous Taurasi, with an up-front burst of ripe fruit -- black cherry, wild strawberry and black plum reduction -- expanding on the palate and transitioning to a savory range of minerally stone and smoke accents. Reveals Mediterranean scrub, dried flowers and milled pepper, with fine, supple tannins swathed in the silky texture, while fresh acidity carries the flavor profile on the lasting finish. Drink now through 2032. 1,323 cases made, 250 cases imported. 95 points

Wine Advocate: With Aglianico fruit harvested from a two-hectare site at a high 700 meters in elevation, the Tenute Capaldo 2017 Taurasi Riserva Gulielmus offers a faithful reading of the grape. This full-bodied red is soft and luscious on the mid-palate, yet it ends on an austere note, thanks to its powerful and angular construction. Plummy dark fruit is followed by pressed rose, sweet gardening soil and toasted spice. Thanks to that high-altitude fruit, you would not peg this as a hot vintage. Some 6,000 bottles were made. 93 points