Estate 1
Azienda Vinicola Paternoster
Visit →Barile
Tastings available
Basilicata · DOC
Aglianico del Vulture DOC Basilicata's Volcanic Aglianico, Explained
Basilicata's volcanic Aglianico, slow-ripened on the slopes of Monte Vulture. Aglianico del Vulture DOC put southern Italy's most age-worthy red on the map. Every bottle is 100% Aglianico, grown on the dark volcanic soils of Monte Vulture. The zone covers fifteen towns in Basilicata. Most of it is a tannic still red, and a rare red Spumante is also made.
17
Wines live now
£11-£65
Price range today
12
UK retailers
The boundary
Where it is
Everything on this page, the estates, the bottles, the sub-zones, sits inside this line.
Estate 2
Elena Fucci
Visit →Barile
Book online
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 3
Cantine del Notaio
Visit →Rionero in Vulture
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 4
Azienda Agricola Musto Carmelitano
Visit →Maschito
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 5
Cantina di Venosa
Visit →Venosa
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 6
Vigne Mastrodomenico
Visit →Barile
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Aglianico del Vulture DOC zone
Estates you can visit
In the glass
What it tastes like
Black cherry
Black pepper
Leather
Plum
Smoked meat
The disciplinare
The rules that define it
The same table on every denomination page, straight from the production rules.
Grape & its role
Share of the blend
050100%
AglianicoThe lead100%Solid means the rules demand it. Striped means optional, up to that amount. The words on the right say the same rule.
Editor's cellar
Bottles to try, and what Aglianico del Vulture costs in the UK
Every live Aglianico del Vulture listing, cheapest to dearest
14 wines · 12 retailers
Live prices, compared across 12 UK retailers.
Cellar doors · inside the zone
Estates you can visit
6 working estates with their gates open, numbered to match their pins on the map above.
Only show
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Experiences in the Aglianico del Vulture zone
Cellar experiences here average around €33. These are the strongest fits for this page.
Tasting & tour
Discover Titolo World
Elena Fucci
Visit to the vineyards where the crù Titolo is born, illustration of the peculiarities of the territory. Visit to the cellars, illustration …
2 h From €30 pp
Book via
Winalist
Tasting & tour
Discover Title World & Old Vintage
Elena Fucci
Visit to the vineyards where the crù Titolo is born, illustration of the peculiarities of the territory. Visit to the cellars, illustration …
2 h From €35 pp
Book via
Winalist
Tasting & tour
Discover Elena Fucci World - Tour & Tasting
Elena Fucci
A walk through vineyards and cellar, between past and future, to discover and taste the Classics of the Elena Fucci winery.
1 h 30 From €35 pp
Book via
Winedering
Vintage provenance
Why there is no vintage chart
No denomination-wide vintage chart is currently published for Aglianico del Vulture DOC. Italian sources that define the appellation (Quattrocalici, Italian Wine Central, Wikipedia) review individual wines and producers rather than maintaining an annata table; quality is tracked producer by producer, with the most age-worthy bottlings increasingly labelled under the Superiore DOCG.
What to check instead
The producer: quality here is tracked estate by estate rather than year by year.
How Aglianico del Vulture is made
The rules require 100% Aglianico, and the vines must sit between 200 and 700 metres on the slopes of Monte Vulture. The mountain is an extinct volcano in Basilicata, and its soils are dark volcanic tuff and lapilli. The grape ripens late here, often into early November. That long hang builds concentrated ripeness in the skins and pips. The Rosso must reach at least 12.5% alcohol, and it ages for around nine to ten months before release. The still red was traditionally finished in large chestnut barrels, and French oak is used more and more. The Spumante is a separate style. It comes from Aglianico picked earlier to hold on to freshness, and its second fermentation happens in the bottle. It then rests at least nine months on the lees, and it is made anywhere from dry to off-dry. Yields are capped near 70%. Sugar left in the Rosso must stay at or below 10 grams a litre (10 g/l).
In depth
Aglianico del Vulture won its DOC in May 1971. For thirty-two years it was the only DOC in Basilicata, until Terre dell'Alta Val d'Agri DOC arrived in 2003.
The vine is one of the oldest in southern Italy. Greek settlers are believed to have carried it over in the 7th to 6th century BC. The earliest records name it Vitis Ellenica. Roman writers celebrated the wine as Falerno. One of them was Horace, born in Venosa inside the Vulture zone. Hannibal is said to have sent his troops to the Vulture in 212 BC to recover with the local red. By the Middle Ages the Swabian and Angevin courts asked for it directly. In 1280 Charles of Anjou ordered four hundred salme of vino rubeo Melfie for his summer at Castel Lagopesole.
The vineyards lie on dark volcanic tuff and lapilli, roughly three hundred to five hundred metres above sea level. Cellars are often cut into the same volcanic stone, in towns such as Barile, Rapolla and Melfi. The Cantina di Venosa cooperative still holds its yearly Riflessi di Stelle tasting on the night of San Lorenzo.
Cellar habits have moved on in recent decades, from large chestnut barrels towards smaller French oak. The Superiore type was promoted to a denomination of its own, Aglianico del Vulture Superiore DOCG, in August 2010. It is still the only DOCG in Basilicata. The DOC carries on with the standard Rosso and the rare red Spumante. The most age-worthy bottles now sit under the Superiore DOCG.
On the table
What to eat with Aglianico del Vulture
The home country leads; global pairings that genuinely work follow.
In-depth guide
Aglianico del Vulture, answered
100% Aglianico. It is a dark-skinned red grape that ripens late. The Greeks brought it to southern Italy more than two thousand years ago. The rules allow no other grape in the Rosso or the Spumante.
The DOC covers the standard Rosso and the rare red Spumante. The Rosso is released after roughly nine to ten months of ageing. Aglianico del Vulture Superiore DOCG was raised to DOCG in 2010. It asks for at least 13.5% alcohol and three years of ageing. Riserva needs five years, two of them in wood. It remains the only DOCG in Basilicata.
In the Vulture zone of northern Basilicata, on the volcanic slopes of Monte Vulture. Fifteen towns are named in the rules, among them Rionero in Vulture, Barile, Venosa, Melfi and Rapolla. Vineyards must sit between 200 and 700 metres above sea level.
Italian sommelier writers gave that name to Aglianico del Vulture and to Taurasi DOCG in Campania. Both are tannic reds that age well, and both come from a single late-ripening grape. The nickname points to structure and long life, not to the scent of Nebbiolo.
Producers usually hold the Rosso back for at least a year. Well-made bottles keep improving for six to twenty years in the cellar. With age the wine picks up tar, stony notes, sweet spice and dark chocolate. The red fruit it started with is still there.
The still Rosso suits roast and grilled red meat, and game such as Lucano cinghiale. It also takes aged sheep's-milk cheeses, including pecorino di Filiano DOP and caciocavallo podolico. The red Spumante is leaner. Pasta con le sarde, baked or grilled fish and Lucano risotti work better with it than heavy meat.
Explore more Basilicata
Same region only: the denominations Aglianico del Vulture drinkers reach for next.
