Elena Fucci Aglianico del Vulture Titolo 2019
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Dark and intense ruby red with an ample and complex nose yielding ethereal spices, cherry, blackberry preserves, rosemary, tobacco and cinnamon with light hints of vanilla. Dry on the palate and full bodied with firm tannins and a long finish. Although a young wine when released, it is destined for a great future!
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This is the wine Fucci started with in 2004. She ages the wine for one year in new French oak barriques, where its dark plum and raspberry flavors develop notes of spice and tapenade. Its dense tannins and dried-fruit notes give a more earthbound and brooding impression than her amphora-aged aglianico, suited for braised meat or savory stews.
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Wine Enthusiast
Once an unexpected sensation, Elena Fucci’s Titolo Aglianico has become a point of reference, as the 2019 vintage only further confirms. The notes of tar and roses notes that have lent this grape its nickname are immediately apparent on the nose, underpinned with dark berries and brambles. A wine that manages to feel both lithe and substantial and that could take another decade of age in stride.
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James Suckling
Game, pungent white pepper and blackberries to the nose. The full-bodied palate has lots of dense, sinewy tannins that will need time to soften. Juicy and really tight finish. Unfiltered. Amphora. Drink after 2025.
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The Fucci family has lived on their estate in Basilicata since 1960, when Elena’s grandfather bought six hectares of vineyards at the highest part Contrada Solagna of Titolo, at the foot of Mount Vulture (an extinct volcano). Her grandfather and father tended the vines and sold the harvest as bulk grapes, only vinifying a small portion for personal consumption.
It wasn’t until the 2000 vintage that the full potential of the domain’s 70-year-old Aglianico vines was properly explored. The family was going through the process of selling the estate when Elena made the last-minute decision to take on the property herself, with the intention of developing the vineyard and devoting herself to the land that she grew up loving so dearly. 2000 was the first proper vintage at Elena Fucci, harvested and vinified while Elena was still completing her studies in Viticulture and Enology.
She knew from the beginning that they wanted to devote themselves to producing a singular wine, reflective of their unique terroir. Simply walking through the vineyard rows at Elena Fucci is a fascinating history lesson; the terrain is volcanic, the soil is mineral, dark in color, and pozzolanic, which clearly catalogues in its layers the history and life of the Vulture volcano, visible just a few hundred meters away. The eruptive phases composed of lava flows, lapilli and ash, interspersed with periods of stasis, composed of layers of clay, are all visible in the land, which translates to a fascinating wine in the glass.
Making its home in the mountainous southern Italy, Aglianico is a bold red variety that is late to ripen and often spends until November on the vine. It thrives in Campania as the exclusive variety in the age-worthy red wine called Taurasi. Aglianico also has great success in the volcanic soils of Basilicata where it makes the robust, Aglianico del Vulture. Somm Secret—The name “Aglianico” bears striking resemblance to Ellenico, the Italian word for "Greek," but no evidence shows it has Greek ancestry. However, it first appeared in Italy around an ancient Greek colony located in present-day Avellino, Campania.
Inhabiting the arch of Italy’s boot, this southern, mountainous region has a relatively small amount of vineyard area under vine. Basilicata has one DOCG for its prized red grape, Aglianico, Aglianico del Vulture Superior, which is limited to the slopes of an extinct volcano. The best whites are made of Malvasia bianca.