Winemaker Notes
The palate is refined with vibrant yet silky tannins. A lengthy and persistent finish delivers pleasant sensations of freshness and complexity. Bocca di Lupo reveals excellent aging potential.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aglianico can often taste too astringent because the grape is naturally high in tannins The winemaking team at Tenuta Bocca di Lupo removes the seeds by letting them fall to the bottom of the tank during pump-overs. This extra step achieves softer or more polymerized tannins in the finished wine. The 2021 Castel del Monte Aglianico is a gentle giant with dark fruit, grilled herb and dark spice. I could imagine lamb ribs on the grill as a delicious food match. The wine ends with drying tannins, but the effect is not bitter because plenty of dark fruit remains throughout.
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.
Well-suited to the production of concentrated, fruity and spicy red varieties, Puglia is one of Italy’s warmest, most southerly regions. Its entire eastern side is one long coastline bordering the Adriatic Sea. About half way down, the region becomes the Salento Peninsula. This peninsula, bordered by water on three sides, receives moist, nighttime, sea breezes that bring a welcome cooling effect to the region, where little rain creates a challenging environment for its vines. In fact, the region is named for the Italian expression, “a pluvia,” meaning “lack of rain.”
Puglia’s Mediterranean climate and iron-rich, calcareous soils support the indigenous Primitivo, Negroamaro and Nero di Troia. Primitivo produces an inky, spicy, brambly and ripe red wine whose best expression comes from Manduria. Nero di Troia produces tannic, rustic reds from Castel del Monte DOC while Negroamaro, typically blended with Malvasia nera, plays a large part in may blends made throughout the peninsula.
Puglia produces a small amount of white wines as well, predominantly made of the fruity, Trebbiano Toscano, or light, Bombino bianco grapes.