Quintodecimo farms a handful of hectares around Mirabella Eclano, in the hills east of Avellino, and bottles this Riserva from a single plot, Vigna Cerzito. It is Aglianico, the grape that gives Campania its most structured reds, and here it comes in magnum, which slows the wine down and keeps it dark and closed for longer.
- Aglianico, the great red grape of southern Italy.
- Taurasi DOCG, Campania's only DOCG for red wine.
- 2016 vintage, still young in the bottle.
- Full body, high tannin, high acidity, dry.
- 1.5L magnum, 14.5% alcohol.
How it is made
Taurasi DOCG sits in the hills of Irpinia, where Aglianico ripens late, often into November, on soils of clay and volcanic ash. The appellation rules require a long ageing before release, and a Riserva carries a longer minimum still. The grape keeps its acidity even when it gets fully ripe, which is why these wines hold their shape for years.
How it tastes
Black cherry first, then tar and leather, with dried herbs underneath. The tannins are firm and still grippy, the acidity cuts straight through the middle of all that fruit, and the finish is long and dry. It is a wine that reads as young: the pieces are all there, they just have not folded into each other yet.
Where it comes from
Irpinia is the inland part of Campania, hill country between Naples and the Adriatic, with cold winters and wide day-to-night swings in autumn. Aglianico has been grown here for centuries, and Taurasi has long been the appellation that carries its name.
Good to know
Aglianico is often picked later than Sangiovese or Nebbiolo, sometimes after the first cold nights, and that late hang time is part of why Taurasi is built the way it is. Magnum is not just a bigger bottle: less oxygen sits in the headspace per litre of wine, so the wine inside ages more slowly than the same wine in a standard bottle.
