Quintodecimo farms a single hillside site in the hills east of Avellino, and bottles it as Vigna Quintodecimo. The grape is Aglianico, the variety that gives Campania its most serious reds, and Taurasi is the only place it is allowed to carry a DOCG. This is the Riserva, from 2016, in magnum.
- Aglianico, the grape of Taurasi.
- Taurasi Riserva DOCG, Campania, southern Italy.
- 2016, a strong vintage in the south.
- 1.5L magnum, double the standard bottle.
- 14.5% abv, dry, full body, high tannin.
How it is made
Taurasi must be Aglianico and nothing else, and the Riserva tier carries a longer minimum ageing before release than the standard wine. Aglianico itself is a late-ripening variety, one of the last picked in Italy, which is why it holds its acidity and its tannin so firmly in a warm southern vintage.
How it tastes
Blackberry and dried herbs, then tar and leather underneath. The tannin is high and firm, the acidity equally high, so the fruit reads dark rather than sweet. Full bodied, dry, and built to sit in the cellar rather than to be hurried.
Where it comes from
Taurasi is a small appellation in inland Campania, around the town of the same name in the province of Avellino. The vineyards sit on volcanic and clay hills at altitude, and the diurnal swing between warm days and cool nights is what keeps Aglianico from going soft.
Good to know
Aglianico is often called the Barolo of the south, and Taurasi was the first wine in southern Italy to be granted DOCG status. The magnum format matters here: a larger bottle holds less oxygen per litre of wine, so the wine inside evolves more slowly than the same wine in a standard bottle.
