2018 Petilia Le Sepaie Aglianico Irpinia Campania 750 ml

Every Italian-wine lover should get acquainted with Aglianico. 

It is to Southern Italy what Nebbiolo and Sangiovese are to the north: proudly Italian and standing head and shoulders above Italy’s THOUSANDS of other cultivars.

In his thorough book Native Wine Grapes of Italy, Italian-wine expert Ian D’Agata goes even further, saying: “In my opinion…it’s one of the world’s dozen or so best wine grapes.”

From a small family farm in Irpinia, inland and uphill from Naples in Campania, Petilia Le Sepaie Aglianico is a great place to begin a love affair with this variety. We love this wine’s cheerfulness and complexity, its notes of sun-kissed red fruit and layers of volcanic-rich iron, black pepper, dried violet, and tobacco.

In fact, if you ever want to try to spot an Aglianico in a blind-tasting, look for the distinctive ashy, earthy, incense-like note that seems to be found in all of them. With time, though, the wines start to resemble Italy’s iconico Barolo and Barbaresco.

Petilia Azienda Agricola is the story of the Bruno family: sister Teresa, brother Roberto, and their family farm. They currently grow Greco, Fiano, and Aglianico on a tiny patch of land that covers approximately 50 acres. Although they are not well-known, their wines are gaining a following for their superb value.

The Brunos describe their home turf of Irpinia in a poetic way. They call it “luxuriant and hostile to nobles…bastard like the people who trample it, a mixture of a thousand essences and a thousand races.” Their first vineyards were planted in 1986. They make this wine from their Torre le Nocelle vineyard in Taurasi, which contains volcanic lapilli (ejected fragments) found only rarely in the nearby Taurasi DOCG.