Red Wine Vultures
Tuesday October 14, 2008
Another scioglivinolingua! The wine panel at The New York Times surveyed "An Italian Name Worth Practicing." That word is: "...aglianico, which, just to be clear, is pronounced ah-lee-YAHN-ee-koh, and which is the name of the leading red grape of southern Italy."
There's another clue offered, too, for those who might have sampled too much Cantina di Venosa Aglianico del Vulture Vignali. Vulture (as in Monte Vulture, whose volcanic soils, according to The Times, have produced "exemplary wines") is pronounced VOOL-too-reh.
Comments
Aglianico, the deepest coloured, most flavoursome and all round best red stuff available.
In the two years I’ve been drinking it, it has replaced cabitet souvignon as my favourite tipple.
I visited an aglianico winery in Rionera in Vulture a year ago and learned of the wide variety of vintages offered, with a huge spread in the prices. The young vintages are very drinkable as a table wine, and still have the same strong character as some of the aged ones. I was happy to see this article bring some attention to the smaller producers of Italy.