David’s ‘Everyday Italian Wine’ - 41
Each Friday, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects a delicious, top-value 'Everyday Italian Wine' for you to enjoy at home - or on your Abruzzo vacation !
Aglianico del Vulture. 'Corte dei Reami'. Cantina di Venosa. 2004
You've probably come across wine made from the aglianico grape before as it's the red wine grape across a great swathe of southern Italy. Pretty harsh and tannic when it's young - but a different story entirely when it's got a bit of age to it.
Aglianico del Vulture, (say it vool-TOOR-ay) is made in the Basilicata region of Italy's deep south and is the only DOC wine you'll find from here. Production's extremely tightly controlled, with wine made from aglianico grapes grown in the reddish volcanic soil of just 15 comunes around Mount Vulture allowed DOC status.
The example comes from Venosa, a town of great antiquity in the north-east corner of Basilicata, and is produced by the local co-op from grapes gathered from around 500 local growers. This 2004 will have accumuated three years in barrel and bottle before release and is just hitting its stride nicely.
This is a bottle you'll need to open an hour or so before you drink it. Better yet, decant it into jug or carafe and just let it sit. It'll make an appreciable difference for the better. Colour in the glass is a deep garnet and the aroma is rather classy with distinct tones of fresh coffee and mulberries. The tannins are now soft - and will get softer, for this wine will happily go on improving for around 10 years after the vintage - with the richness of the fruit overlaid with a hint of bitter chocolate. The finish is long enough to cross adjoining time-zones. Intensely savoury and delicious. This is a very good wine.
Go up a notch in class and price to a 'Riserva' Aglianico del Vulture and you'll be buying a wine known - with reason - as the 'Barolo of the South'. But without the epic price-tag usually carried by the 'Barolo of the North'. Five years in wood and bottle; an ageing potential of 20 years - or more - and a wine of rich opulence that will drink perfectly with game, or a properly-aged roast sirloin of beef.
And a little inside gossip. In the neighbouring region of Campania, no more than 50 miles from where Aglianico del Vulture is produced, you'll find 'Taurasi' - another top-notch wine made from the aglianico grape. You'd be hard-pressed to notice distinct differences between this and a Riserva AdelV, but crucially, 'Taurasi' has been awarded DOCG status - and that adds to its prestige and, consequently, its price. Strong lobbying has been in progress for a similar promotion for Aglianico del Vulture. So now would be a good time to buy before that lobbying pays off and prices go up…
At A Glance…
This week's featured wine: Aglianico del Vulture. 'Corte dei Reami'- Vintage: 2004
- Producer: Cantina di Venosa
- Designation: DOC (for the moment…)
- Grape: 100% Aglianico
- Strength: 13%
- Closure: Cork
- This bottle cost: €4.70
Cantina di Venosa
Hardly surprising that the Cantina di Venosa's list is dominated by aglianico variants, including a rose and even an 'Aglianico Spumante' - which sounds like fun ! There's a very little white on the list - a dry Muscat probably the pick here - plus a Muscat sparkler and a grappa, but the star of the show is the top-of-the-line 'Carato Riserva'. Powerful and profound - and at 14%, not for the faint-hearted !
Click on the pictures in the text for larger images - and if you like Italian wine, why not check-out last week's 'Everyday Italian Wine' and bookmark this site for future weekly posts.
Next Week: It's November - and here in Abruzzo, the year's new wine has just been released. Join us in a head-to-head tasting of the 'Novello' from our two favourite local cantine - Miglianico and Tollo: another good reason for an end-of-year Villasfor2 Abruzzo vacation !
Abruzzo vacation, Aglianico del Vulture, Everyday Italian Wine, Taurasi, Villasfor2
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