Elena Fucci Aglianico del Vulture Titolo 2018
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Winemaker Notes
Dark and intense ruby red with an ample and complex nose yielding ethereal spices, cherry, blackberry preserves, rosemary, tobacco and cinnamon with light hints of vanilla. Dry on the palate and full bodied with firm tannins and a long finish. Although a young wine when released, it is destined for a great future!
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Wine Enthusiast
Plush aromas of violet, juniper, cherry and bramble berry burst on the nose. Medium in weight, there's a driven, ample feel to the juicy red-cherry and blackberry flavors, with bits of tar and pressed rose arising on the midpalate. Yet, throughout the whole experience, bouncy berry fruit and zesty crushed mineral tones remain constant. There's structure and poise to this wine that makes it enjoyable to drink now, but it will also hold well through 2028.
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Wine & Spirits
Fucci finds that aglianico expresses itself best in cooler vintages like 2018, when it leaves some of its muscles behind. That’s true of her 2018 Titolo, packed with fl avors of juicy blackberry that gain vibrancy with exposure to air. Those fruit tones remain taut and precise as subtle notes of smoke, crushed herbs and spice emerge. The wine was still fresh and lively four days after the bottle was opened, indicating plenty of aging potential.
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Wine Spectator
A racy, tightly wound red, medium- to full-bodied and stylish, with a lovely hint of lavender and star anise enmeshed with flavors of crushed wild cherry and blackberry, smoky iron and fig cake. Taut tannins firm the finish. Best from 2022 through 2030. 1,500 cases made, 1,300 cases imported.
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The Fucci family has lived on their estate in Basilicata since 1960, when Elena’s grandfather bought six hectares of vineyards at the highest part Contrada Solagna of Titolo, at the foot of Mount Vulture (an extinct volcano). Her grandfather and father tended the vines and sold the harvest as bulk grapes, only vinifying a small portion for personal consumption.
It wasn’t until the 2000 vintage that the full potential of the domain’s 70-year-old Aglianico vines was properly explored. The family was going through the process of selling the estate when Elena made the last-minute decision to take on the property herself, with the intention of developing the vineyard and devoting herself to the land that she grew up loving so dearly. 2000 was the first proper vintage at Elena Fucci, harvested and vinified while Elena was still completing her studies in Viticulture and Enology.
She knew from the beginning that they wanted to devote themselves to producing a singular wine, reflective of their unique terroir. Simply walking through the vineyard rows at Elena Fucci is a fascinating history lesson; the terrain is volcanic, the soil is mineral, dark in color, and pozzolanic, which clearly catalogues in its layers the history and life of the Vulture volcano, visible just a few hundred meters away. The eruptive phases composed of lava flows, lapilli and ash, interspersed with periods of stasis, composed of layers of clay, are all visible in the land, which translates to a fascinating wine in the glass.
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.