Winter was surprisingly cold and rainy: from January to April there were about 550 mm of rain. The average per year is around 650-700 in this corner of Irpinia. A good amount of sun came when I started pruning in March, with a diurnal excursion sometimes from 22 degree in the day to 0 degree in the night. There were 3 different snowfalls during the winter, the last one in April. This month started again with some rain but then became very sunny in the second half. The bud break started one week later than usual, around the 22th of April. Sun and some heat continued in May which was simply ideal for the vegetation showing an intense green and vivid colour. June and July were sunny, but without the excessive temperatures of other years: between 30 degree in the day and 15 degree in the night, with some occasional good showers. The summer continued sunny, but with some more heat from the last week of July, when an intense episode of rain happened. August was very warm in the day (33 degree during the day and 22 during the night), with nearly no rain. A perfect summer for Aglianico, with no hail and few providential rains. The veraison started around the 8th of August, one week earlier than usual and lasted nearly 45 days. September was again sunny, but fresher, with only two intense episodes of rain. October started nearly cold for 10 days but then it warmed up with again an incredible diurnal excursion of 20+ degrees. Despite the warm vintage, I waited and waited going through a couple of risky rain episodes (50mm), until I got the phenolic ripeness I was searching for: this happened on the 17th of November. Grapes were incredibly healthy. The following days of November saw a lot of rains, and the month ended with 170 mm of rain in total.
In 2021 grapes came from 5 vineyards: one is today 53 years old, another one 48 years old, the third is now 23 years old, the fourth (that I left) was 45 years old, and the last one was planted before Phylloxera came here in 1931. The main vineyards lies at an altitude of around 530 meters above the sea level, facing south to south-west (only one vineyard face pure east with 40% slope), in an area which benefits from a considerable ventilation and never misses rain; geologically speaking they are 5 million years old and present remains of molluscs and deposits that document the fact that it was once a submerged beach. This soil is unique and very complex, it combines the calcareous clay matrix, rich in stones, with the volcanic components that came from ancient eruptions. Sometimes also tuffaceous in the surface layer, some other times marly.
The vineyards are cultivated without digging or ploughing into the soil that is left grassy (no till), and without cutting the tops of the vines, that are manually rolled along the cables, to favour the maximum phenolic ripeness. I avoid fertilisation and do not use any systemic products. To further preserve the health of the plants, I use copper and sulphur (mostly in liquid form) together with seaweed extract and herbs, bicarbonate, fungi and sometimes propolis.
The vines were all harvested on November 17th – 2020.
The crop was about 9 hl per hectare.
The grapes were destemmed and then inspected berry by berry over the sorting table by six people. After that, I put them whole berry in untoasted wooden vat and in ceramic amphoras where they had a spontaneous fermentation, not adding any sulphide or pied de cuve.
Several pumping over and punching down were made, each day. Alcoholic fermentation lasted about 22 days. Maceration lasted from 60 to 90 days, depending on the vat. Then the racked whole berries went through a sort of late crushing on a vertical hydraulic press with zero pressure, I called it a “pigiatura tardiva”, since actually I do not want pressed wine.
After two rackings, in the second week of August 2022 occurred the spontaneous malolactic fermentation. Then I moved the wine with gravity in the lower part of the underground cellar in ultrathick no toasted barrels. The wine had no racking for 2 years, before the bottling without any filtration in September 2024.
As demonstrated by recent (2021) genetic studies of ten of the most renowned Universities and Research Centers in Italy, the Aglianico has a unique genetic identity, distant from any other varietal or family of grapes. The Aglianico is one of very few varieties at the genetic root of the extraordinary ampelographic diversity in Italy, that has the richest variety of vines in the world. One sixth Italian vines are from the Campania region. Therefore, the Aglianico is a vine rooted in the history of viticulture.
Aglianico requires a very late harvest, kind of unique for a dry wine. No-sweet, no-overripe grapes: in the Irpinia it can occur in November and without Botrytis, making Taurasi DOCG the lastest appellation to be harvested and produced in Italy.
(in latin Hirpinia, from “hirpus”= “wolf” a word coming in the pre-estruscan population language)
Is a sub region of Campania. Irpinia is a territory that occupies around 2,800 Km², two thirds of which are covered by mountains and the other third by hills. The DOCG Taurasi belongs only to Irpinia, with 1135 ha (only 447 specifically claimed), 40% of which are in a specific area called Alta Valle del Calore, where altitude is from 400 to 700 meters above sea level. Here, where I made my estate, the Aglianico has probably the longest vegetative cycle among all the wine varietals, from bud break in April to the harvest in November.