Aglianico

If there is one variety in southern Italy that deserves the title "Barolo of the South" it's definitely the Aglianico. Greek in origin, the Aglianico is a complex, difficult variety that's austere in its youth and has an impressive longevity, offering sensational elegance and fullness for up to thirty years. Lovely and garnet in appearance, with intense scents of jam, spices, toasty notes and liquorice, it proves stunning on the palate thanks to the elegance of its tannins and its infinite persistence. As regards the areas where it grows, the Aglianico provides numerous interpretations depending on its place of origin, but it always appears ground-breaking and original.

Subtle and elegant in the province of Caserta, where Fattoria Villa Matilde makes his Falerno del Massico with 80% Aglianico and 20% Piedirosso, originating from the region's calcareous and mineral soils. Further south in the Sannio region, the volcanic lands found in the Taburno, home to great wine masters such as Fontanavecchia, give rise to a powerful yet also fine Aglianico. Fullness and powerfulness also distinguish the Aglianico grown in the Cilento, a mountainous region in Campania where Montevetrano makes his classic Core.

However, the real Aglianico masters are to be found in Taurasi and the Vulture, where we encounter the most authentic wines made from this variety. In Taurasi, a town in the Campania region, we come across one of the richest and fullest reds in Italy, the result of an ageing period of at least three years in large oak casks, and revealing incomparable aromas of incense, spices, wax, leather, along with vibrant freshness and a perfectly integrated, mineral tannicity.

In the volcanic region of the Vulture, in the Basilicata, production is predominantly of a mountain Aglianico, able to resist the cold, snowy winters there. It produces an Aglianico that has a very elegant minerality and is exceptionally flavoursome and subtle on the palate, with dense and perfectly balanced tannins thanks to its long period of ageing in oak barrels.