Cantine del Notaio La Firma Aglianico del Vulture 2009
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Upon inheriting the Cantine del Notaio estate from his father, proprietor Gerardo Giuratrabocchetti left a previous career to become a winemaker and brought enologist Luigi Moio of the University of Naples on board as consultant, with the aim of restoring their ancient glory to the wines of the Aglianico del Vulture DOC. There are only a few estates who bottle their own wine in Vulture and Notaio is one of them. These miniscule-production Aglianico wines from the esteemed Rionero zone are fragrant and sweet in the nose, with powerful yet restrained tannins and dense blue- and blackberry fruit with licorice notes. The estate's 27 hectares are divided into 5 different vineyards, and with the exception of 1 very old-vine vineyard, each is planted with identical plants of the same age.
Notaio’s cellars are located in a group of ten underground grottos that once belonged to Franciscan monks. The estate is at the forefront of clonal experimentation, with 40 different ancient clones currently under cultivation for study.
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.