Here goes, this is the second time writing this post which I finished this am at 6:00 promptly posted and somehow got overwritten. In any event, what I said originally was that when Jeff of Food Wine Click  proposed this topic, I was thrilled. I love Aglianico and it was a great time to explore the variety and the regions where it grows. Aglianico generally is grown in Campania and Basilicata in Italy. I thought a lot about what I wanted to write and decided on Irpinia. When I first heard about Irpinia, it was in the context of the terrible earthquake in November of 1980 that left thousands dead and injured and almost 250,000 people homeless.

In the 1990s I worked in the Associated Press office in Milan. They had this picture above on the wall and this haunting image stayed with me for years. That level of destruction is hard to come back from. But the people from this area did come back from it. The next time I really thought about Irpinia as a region was 2014 when they created their own circle at Vinitaly and had their own pavilion. Vinitaly is so huge and the pavilion’s so large that I realized this must be a wine area to get to know. Of course I knew of Taurasi for many years but I didn’t associate it with Irpinia, oddly enough.

A few years earlier I had met Ilaria Petito from Donnachiara. At first I didn’t focus on the fact that she was located in Irpinia, until I went to visit her in the Irpinia Pavilion. Irpinia doesn’t have big cities such as Naples or Salerno or Caserta but it is said to resemble Tuscany in an earlier phase with beautiful small villages, art, wonderful restaurants and great wines. Irpinia is around the town of Avellino. It had three D.O.C.G. wines: Taurasi, Fiano di Avellino and Greco di Tufo as well as Irpinia Doc. There is a Consorzio called Consorzio Tutela Vini d’Irpinia.  Still it seemed to me to be less well known than it should be.

Aglianico, we know is often called the “Barolo of the South” although I think it is really quite a different wine with more acidity and sexier, smoky notes. The ones from Irpinia are from vineyards at elevation because Irpinia is in the foothills of the Appennine Mountains. Irpinia has a continental climate rather than a Mediterranean one. There is considerable thermal excursion and this allows the grapes to reach phenolic ripeness. The soils are a mix of volcanic ash, sand, clay and limestone with fossil materials  and generally good drainage.

The wines can be made into Irpinia Rosso, still, sparkling, novello, liquoroso and passito versions. Campi Taurasini is another appellation here where Aglianico must be 85% of the blend.

Wines from Irpinia tend to come from these areas: Taurasi, Bonito, Castelfranci, Castelvetere sul Calore, Fontanarosa, Lapio, 3 Luogosano, Mirabella Eclano, Montefalcione, Montemarano, Montemiletto, Paternopoli, Pietradefusi, Sant’Angelo all’Esca, San Mango sul Calore, Torre le Nocelle, Venticano, Gesualdo, Villamaina, Torella dei Lombardi, Grottaminarda, Melito Irpino, Nusco,  and Chiusano San Domenico.

To really understand Irpinian wines, one should consult Luciano Pignataro’s guide. It’s a great resource but may only be available in Italian. As I was thinking about these wines I realized that the very big producers from Campania such as Feudi di San Gregorio are located in Irpinia. They are located in the village of Sorbo Serpico. The winery was founded in  1986 and this is their  super modern winery today.

I’ve had their Rubrato which is 100% Aglianico from Irpinia made in stainless steel and then aged six months in the bottle. I found that some of the producers whose wines I tried use oak while others do not. Rubrato was very fruit forward with berry flavors which I loved.

Another really well-known winery that makes a wine labeled Aglianico Irpinia DOC is Mastroberardino which has been transformed the wines of Campania and their image throughout the years. Again, I had always focused on their Taurasi rather than Redimore which is their Aglianico Irpinia DOC. The name means the King of Blueberries. The wine comes from their Mirabella Eclano estate which has south-eastern exposures and very deep soils with sand and clay as well as limestone. They do a long maceration on the skins of this wine which then ages for a  year in French oak barriques, and 6 months in the bottle before release.

A third producer whose wines are very widely mentioned here in the States, including in the New York Times by Eric Asimov, and whose wines I have not tried is Antonio Caggiano. I look forward to trying his Irpinia Aglianico DOC “Taurī”.

My friend Ilaria at Donnachiara, makes a wonderful wine with the Irpinia label but since we sometimes work together, I am not going to write about it but will link to Lauren Walsh’s recent piece on the Swirling Dervish.

I was very excited to write about this wines and to think about Irpinia, an area I haven’t visited and look forward to getting to know. I didn’t mention Basilicata at all in this post not because I am not interested, I love the region and it has a special place in my heart as anyone who has read my blog knows. I tasted a wonderful Aglianico del Vulture yesterday at the Tre Bicchieri event from Basilisco which was a much bigger wine than the ones I am describing in this post.

Aglianico from Irpinia seems to me to be more fruit forward and perhaps more approachable at a younger age than some of the Taurasi labeled wines I have had. It also has a nice price point between $15-$25. I think it’s a great way to get to know Aglianico. Thanks Jeff for choosing this great topic and check out all the other posts by bloggers who participated in this Aglianico Shootout and the twitter chat today using the hashtag #ItalianFWT.

• Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Curling up with a Good Book, a Comforting Bowl of Pasta and a Wonderful Glass of Aglianico”
• Jane from Always Ravenous shares “Braised Lamb Paired with Aglianico”
• Lynn from Savor the Harvest shares “Aglianico: A Southern Italian Gem”
• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Memories and Flavors of Campania + Feudi di San Gregorio Aglianico Rubrato 2014″
• Nicole from Somms Table shares “Cooking to the Wine: Vigneti del Vulture Aglianico del Vulture with Braised Oxtails“
• Jennifer at Vino Travels Italy shares “The Sacred Vines of the Basilicata with D’Angelo Aglianico”
• Jill from L’Occasion shares “Aglianico Connections in the Napa Valley“
• Jeff from Food Wine Click! brings us “Aglianico Battle between Campania and Basilicata”
•  The Swirling Dervish we’ve got “Aglianico from the Old World and New: Campania vs. Paso Robles”
• and here at  Avvinare I wrote “Aglianico from Irpinia”