“Titolo” Aglianico del Vulture Classico DOC 2023 (BIO)

Elena Fucci | Basilicata
Az. Agr. Elena Fucci | Contrada Solagna del Titolo | IT 85022 Barile

17022123 · 0,75 l · 46,67 €/l · Price (DE) incl. VAT, excl. Shippingavailable immediately

In 2000, buyers were at the door. The Fucci family had almost given up on the six hectares of vineyards that their grandfather Generoso had acquired at the foot of Monte Vulture in the 1960s – the parents teachers, the children on their way into the world. At the last moment, daughter Elena decided otherwise. Not out of calculation, but out of a feeling that she herself later described as "a stab in the heart": she could not accept that a foreign name would do something great with the oldest vines of the Vulture while she watched.

Titolo – the name of the contrada, the location, the life. The vineyards lie at 600 metres, exposed to the south-east, on volcanic pozzolanic soils of visibly layered lava, ash and clay – a cross-section of the history of the extinct volcano, which still stands a few hundred metres away. The vines are between 45 and 70 years old. Low bearing, deeply rooted, silent. Elena Fucci vinifies the Titolo Classico with a precision that shows respect for the grape variety: destemming, gentle pressing, temperature-controlled fermentation to a maximum of 22°C. Then the decisive detail: 12 months of ageing in Liters French oak barrels with extra-thick staves. Smaller than Bordeaux, thicker than usual. A deliberate intervention that gives the Aglianico structure without masking it. Then aged in the bottle for twelve months.

Intense ruby red with garnet reflections. Cherry, marasca, blackberry, rosemary, tobacco, cinnamon on the nose – broad, complex, with a volcanic minerality running through it. Powerful and elegant at the same time on the palate, with firmly integrated tannins, lively acidity and a long, spicy finish that never stops talking. Aglianico as it can be – when someone like Elena says yes at the last moment. SUPERIORE.DE

"The hauntingly dark 2023 Aglianico del Vulture Titolo Classico is a total pleasure, opening with violet and lavender perfumes that give way to nuances of sandalwood, dried black cherries and spice. This is a model of balance, silky smooth and nearly creamy in feel yet still energetic, delivering ripe black fruits, inner olive tones and gravelly minerals. Fine-grained tannins wrap the palate in youthful poise as the 2023 finishes dramatically long and staining, leaving citrus-inflected licorice on the close." Vinous