Planeta - Didacus Cabernet Franc 2016 (750ml)
Vinous: 95 Points
From: Sicily: The Island Nation (Jun 2021) The finest dark chocolate roses cedar sage dried red currants spiced orange peel; you can go on and on with a new note each time you tilt the glass as the 2016 Cabernet Franc Didacus slowly blossoms. Its textures are like weighted velvet yet the expression is medium-bodied in feel with a polished display of black fruits lifted by vibrant acids as hints of white pepper give way to dark inner florals. This is still youthfully dense leaving a fine coating of tannin under a savory display of dried plums and blackberries. There?s a sheen to the 2016 that allows for an early peek into its evolution today yet the cellar potential is remarkably high as well. This is the first release of the Didacus Cabernet Franc from a single vineyard at Planeta?s Menfi property. - By Eric Guido on April 2021 Tasting through the Planeta portfolio is like a master class in Sicilian wine. As I moved from bottle to bottle of which there were 34 for this report (and that doesn?t even include all the wines Planeta produces) I couldn?t help but marvel at how each of them was able to communicate both varietal purity and terroir. Alessio Planeta chief winemaker and co-owner explained that it is their goal to spotlight individual winemaking locations throughout Sicily and to concentrate only on the varieties that excel within each of them. This has resulted in the building of five different wineries throughout the island each focused on the vineyards surrounding them: Menfi in the west Capo Milazzo in the northeast (and a stunning location to behold with its craggy rock faces and vineyards that grow a stone's throw from the sea) the slopes of Mount Etna Noto in the extreme southeastern tip and the south-central Vittoria. The vast differences in terroir from place to place allow Planeta to work with both indigenous and ancient varieties as well as international ones. This also means that they are constantly at work in the vineyards with a growing season that seems to always be starting or ending somewhere and harvests that begin the first week of August with white varieties in warmer locales and end at the highest elevations of Etna in November. What?s even more impressive to me is the level of quality and value that Planeta as large as they are continue to deliver from the entry-level Grillo to the internationally styled top-shelf Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc to the local Nero d?Avola - and of course their world-class bottlings of Carricante and Nerello Mascalese. The fact is that a consumer can lose themselves in this portfolio and it would be a highly pleasurable experience tasting their way back out.
vWine Advocate: 94 Points
This is the inaugural vintage of a new wine Didacus Rosso made with Cabernet Franc that partners up perfectly to the white version of Didacus which showcases Chardonnay. The Planeta 2016 Sicilia Menfi Cabernet Franc Didacus works a little harder to win you over compared to its white wine sibling that proves to be an effortless love-at-first-sight proposition. From a classic vintage and a long growing season this Cabernet Franc is slow to open and reveals a long range of aromas to coincide with various intervals one hour after the bottle is open six hours later and even two days later. Give it time. Didacus reveals textbook varietal purity with dark fruit bramble white pepper crushed stone and rosemary essence. There is little sweetness to the fruit and the wine's personality embraces a more tonic or focused style with inner tension and verve. It focuses on length not textural width. Compared to the Chardonnay which is full-on Mediterranean with a kaleidoscope of bold fruit intensity this wine is more reserved and timid. It adopts the silent noble and insular side of the Sicilian persona and is a wine that succinctly relays its intention and uses few words to do so.
