The reviewers who found this wine poor must have had bad bottles or didn't decant properly. As the wine is fairly old, a half-hour to hour decanting is enough - too long and it could easily go bad. The bottle I had was absolutely phenomenal. No way I would've guess it was from Puglia in a blind taste - more like Piemonte. Add that to the fact that I only paid about $10 for it and it's one of the best values I've ever bought.

Great match with a Puttanesca style sauce. Good complexity, excellent length.

Too bad for those that received a tainted bottle, b/c i really enjoyed mine. My bottle was a Fresh & well made. Great tannin and structure (could have aged it for several more years) The nose offered black current, cedar, candle wax, which transcended to sour cherries and cedar on the palate. Medium to full bodied.

Crushed cherries and cedar are the main features. Good structure with medium length and a clean finish. Value.

Decanting is recommended.

Tasted April/12

This was pretty nice.

The 2005 Rivera Cappellaccio Riserva Aglianico has a medium body, with integrated aromas of red currant and cedar. The wine has refined tannins that are in harmonious balance with acidity (decant for longer than an hour) and medium to long finish. It has the potential to age and evolve for the next 5 to 10 years. My impression: quite NICE, 88 pts. Tasted Apr/11.

If you would like to see wines I recommend and that are still available at the LCBO, please visit this link (listed in my profile):

http://www.winealign.com/wino/dantrcka/recommended-wines-you-can-still-buy.

January 2019

Quick Lesson: the Aglianico grape, which has been believed to have been brought to Italy by early Greek settlers may not have been. Recent DNA testing shows no close relation to other known Greek varieties.

The wine was beginning to show some browning, to its deep garnet colouring. The wine has notable nose of match-heads (sulphur), spice, and plums. The tannins are still present, giving the wine a nice structure. Prunes, earthy, and a bit of tobacco flavours, with a medium to long finish.
Tasted March 2014.

I bought this wine on the basis of the rave reviews and found I had a complete crock. I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to know what was wrong, but read John Szabo's review -- my bottle was similar.