2019 Aglianico del Vulture, Titolo, Superiore Riserva, Elena Fucci, Basilicat Italy
Critics reviews
Drop-dead gorgeous, the kaleidoscopic 2019 Aglianico del Vulture Superiore Riserva Titolo seduces with a cascade of violets and lavender, giving way to shavings of pine, incense and a core of crushed black cherries. It's deeply textural, with masses of mineral-inflected red and black fruit flowing across a stream of pure velvet. The 2019 folds in upon itself through the finale yet maintains exceptional freshness, finishing with a pleasantly bitter tinge of cocoa as notes of tobacco fade.
The Titolo Riserva hails only from Elena Fucci's oldest vines, between 60 and 70 years old. It is refined in a single 500-litre barrel for 40 months. This edition marries the majesty of the Titolo vineyard and its old vines with the magic of the 2019 vintage. Fantastic.
Drink 2027 - 2038
Eric Guido, Vinous.com (May 2024)
About this WINE
Elena Fucci
Aglianico del Vulture
Aglianico del Vulture DOC encompasses a broad territory north of Potenza in Basilicata stretching towards the Puglian border and centering around the area of the extinct volcano Monte Volture.
The soils are a mixture volcanic deposits and clay. Aglianico is the sole grape permitted int he appellation and it is believed to have been brought over to Italy from Greece. Its name derives from the Latin Ellenico or Hellenic.
It yields robust, deeply coloured wines that has the potential to improve for many years. Youthful versions of the wine are also available, sometimes semi-sweet and even sparkling, but the dry vecchio or riserva, after ageing in oak casks, is the prime expression of this grape.
Aglianico
Aglianico's origins are Greek (the name is a dialect version of the word Ellenico, the Italian word for Hellenic) and its was originally planted in the Campania and Basilicata regions of southern Italy over 2,500 years ago when southern Italy was a Greek colony known as Magna Graecia or Oenotria.
The grapes thrived until the late 19th century when it was almost destroyed by phylloxera. Since the war plantings have gradually increased and there were about 13,000 ha/32,000 acres of Aglianico planted at the last official count, in 1990.
The grape seems to prefer soils of volcanic origin, as well as dry and sunny location, and achieves its finest results in the two DOCs of Taurasi in Campania and Aglianico del Vulture in Basilicata. It is an early budding, late ripening variety and in the right hands can produce very long-lived wines of intensity and finesse. In the past young Aglianico wines were often fiercely tannic and harsh - fortunately improved techniques in both the vineyard and winery have led to fresher and riper wine being made that are eminently approachable in youth but also still improve with bottle age.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Drop-dead gorgeous, the kaleidoscopic 2019 Aglianico del Vulture Superiore Riserva Titolo seduces with a cascade of violets and lavender, giving way to shavings of pine, incense and a core of crushed black cherries. It's deeply textural, with masses of mineral-inflected red and black fruit flowing across a stream of pure velvet. The 2019 folds in upon itself through the finale yet maintains exceptional freshness, finishing with a pleasantly bitter tinge of cocoa as notes of tobacco fade.
The Titolo Riserva hails only from Elena Fucci's oldest vines, between 60 and 70 years old. It is refined in a single 500-litre barrel for 40 months. This edition marries the majesty of the Titolo vineyard and its old vines with the magic of the 2019 vintage. Fantastic.
Drink 2027 - 2038
Eric Guido, Vinous.com (May 2024)
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