Skip to content
WineHQ
Search

Appellation · Italy

Aglianico del Vulture

Aglianico on the slopes of an extinct volcano in Basilicata, and one of southern Italy’s least known great reds.

Aglianico del Vulture DOCcontinentalmoderate
What to expect in the glass

Full-bodied, dry, high-tannin red with black cherry, ash, liquorice and a savoury smoky depth. Needs eight to ten years.

About Aglianico del Vulture

Monte Vulture is an extinct volcano in Basilicata, and Aglianico is grown on its slopes at 450–700 m.

The wines are firm, dark and mineral-toned, generally a little leaner and more austere than Taurasi, and they age for decades.

Basilicata is one of Italy’s poorest and least visited regions, and its wine remains substantially undervalued as a result.

What the name means

Legal name
Aglianico del Vulture DOC
Type
Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)
Set by
MASAF
Recognised
1971
Regulates
Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.

The delimited area, permitted varieties and their proportions, maximum yields, minimum alcohol and — for riserva and similar terms — minimum ageing.

Worth knowing

The Superiore version is a separate DOCG, granted in 2010, with longer ageing requirements.

Grapes

Wines from here

red

Taurasi

Aglianico grown at altitude in Campania — extremely tannic, savoury and long-lived, often called the Barolo of the south.

Rules worth knowing

Confirmed in the EU register

Aglianico del Vulture is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-IT-A0222, protected at EU level since 1973.

Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013

Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.

The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.

What to eat, and how to serve it

Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.

Taurasi

Serve at 16–18°C (cool room temperature).

Try with lamb shank, roast chicken or fillet steak.

Where to go next

Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.

  • Taurasi — Aglianico grown high in the Campanian hills — the "Barolo of the South", and a comparison that for once holds up.
  • Puglia — The heel of Italy, and the source of ripe, soft, generous Primitivo and Negroamaro.

Sources

Sources consulted