Few points are as thrilling as a result of the come-from-behind winner, the one you didn’t rely on – the darkish horse. In that spirit, these crimson wines from Southern Italy aren’t well-known, nonetheless if you’ve tried them, you merely might give them the crown.
8 Darkish Horse Purple Wines From Southern Italy
This space is the place Greek and Phoenician retailers settled and met the native Etruscans, adopted by Romans, Moors, Arabs, and Spaniards.
The result is an abundance of distinctive grape varieties, distinctive terroir, and spectacular wines that don’t break the financial institution.
Aglianico del Vulture
- Grape: Aglianico
- Space: Basilicata
- What to Pair: Beef stew, steak au poivre, full-flavored cheese.
Whereas the Aglianico wines of Campania and Basilicata share the an identical major style profile — sinewy crimson fruits and berries, pronounced acidity, and company tannins — Aglianico del Vulture is darker in color and earthier in style. It’s often well-known to have a particular chalkiness and hint of tobacco leaf inside the finish.
Aglianico (al-lee-ahn-ni-ko) is basically essentially the most prestigious crimson grape of the south and considered a member of the trio of “noble” Italian varieties, along with Nebbiolo inside the north and Sangiovese inside the middle.
Some suppose the grape is of Greek origin nonetheless there isn’t a such factor as a concrete proof, and it’s solely potential Aglianico originated in southern Italy.
Its principal base is Campania, the place it is the star participant of the renowned Taurasi and plenty of completely different Aglianico-based wines.
Nevertheless its completely different principal outpost is true subsequent door in Basilicata. Though Mount Vulture has been extinct for tons of of years, the soil on the bottom of the mountain the place the vines develop continues to be very lots volcanic and presents a extremely fully completely different expression of Aglianico.
Campi Flegrei Piedirosso
- Grape: Piedirosso
- Space: Campania
- What to Pair: Drink a youthful Campi Flegrei Piedirosso with grilled meat and greens or a tomato-based pasta, or pair a riserva with spit-roasted squab.
Piedirosso, domestically known as Per’ e’ Palummo (“pigeon’s foot”), is the standout crimson variety of Campi Flegrei, with a steady core of luscious blackberry fruit, tender tannins, tart acidity, and a protracted gravelly finish of baking soda, flint and a wisp of smoke.
Campania is certainly a volcanic zone, consisting of 24 craters, most of them underwater, surrounded by a pock-marked terrain that options quite a lot of lakes and fairly just a few swimming swimming pools of boiling mud.
Native Campanian grapevines do surprisingly properly on this odd, barely spooky environment and, since phylloxera cannot survive proper right here, a number of them are very earlier and un-grafted.
Penisola Sorrentina Rosso Frizzante Gragnano
- Grape: Aglianico, Piedirosso, Sciascinoso (shia-she-know-so)
- Space: Campania
- What to Pair: This fizzy crimson goes with completely something from grilled seafood to salumi. For Neapolitans, Gragnano is the go-to beverage with pizza.
Shiny garnet hue, fragrant aroma of rosehips and wild oregano. Tart pomegranate with hints of anise seed and black pepper, briny toasted seaweed salinity, and taut tannins, accentuated by the sunshine fizz, which moreover creates a wonderful pale pink sea foam on the ground. You might serve this crimson wine from southern Italy chilled!
Native grapevines are planted inside the foothills of the Lattari Mountains, consisting of compressed marine sea fossils with airborne rocks, stones, and dust from earlier volcanic eruptions.
This distinctive soil composition, along with ample Mediterranean sunshine, large diurnal shifts (the excellence between day- and night-time temperatures), and salty breezes off the ocean, produce delicious crimson and white wines.
Nevertheless basically essentially the most attention-grabbing and fascinating of all are the crimson frizzante (fizzy) wines from three subzones, each named after a metropolis: Lettere, Sorrento, and Gragnano (gran-yan-oh).
Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
- Grape: Montepulciano (mon-tay-pool-chee-ahn-know)
- Space: Abruzzo
- What to Pair: Whichever Montepulciano you choose, the pairing suggestion is comparable: Arrosticini Abruzzese!
Wines with darkish black cherry and black currants with a barely dried leathery edge, supple tannins, tangy acidity and a bitter chocolate finish with a contact of current cilantro.
In Southern Italy, montepulciano is a grape, and an essential one, notably for Abruzzo, the place it is the star attraction accounting for over half of all grapevines planted inside the space.
Along with waving the regional banner, due to this Montepulciano d’Abruzzo runs the gamut from low value regularly quaff to a couple of essentially the most compelling (and expensive) wines in all of Italy.
Tintilia del Molise
- Grape: Tintilia
- Space: Molise
- What to Pair: Rosemary-sage roasted pork chops, braised cotechino sausage, wild mushroom risotto, or something that strikes your fancy.
Wine that’s darkish purple, with dense velvety tannins and juicy black plum and blackberry, with a contact of black pepper, common acidity, and a protracted lingering finish with an fascinating hint of warmth asphalt.
Molise is Italy’s second smallest space and one in every of many newest, having formally separated from its northern neighbor, Abruzzo, in 1963.
Whereas some think about Tintilia is of Iberian origin, drawing a connection between the title of the grape and the Spanish phrase ‘tinto’ (crimson), it has been proper right here as long as anyone can recall and was traditionally used to soften montepulciano, Molise’s most usually planted vine.
Nevertheless more and more extra producers are getting behind their native son, and a model new appellation requiring a minimal of 95% Tintilia was created in 2011 to showcase it. Regardless of its origins, Tintilia del Molise is a specific and promising regional ambassador.
Castel del Monte Nero di Troia
Darkish crimson, just about opaque; rich clear slate texture with steady, angular tannins and company acidity revealing ripe blackberry, plum and blueberry, with current rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and licorice popping up on a protracted finish.
Take into consideration a festive dinner with Pugliese olive oil, Pugliese wine, and traditional Pugliese dishes. Dialog is animated, big platters of meals are being handed spherical, and a model new wine is poured into your glass each time it’s empty.
In direction of the highest of the evening anyone re-fills your glass however as soon as extra. You take a sip.
The second it hits your palate, a vivid image of the brooding, enigmatic fort pops into your head. You type the taut stress of the thick-walled building, the dense roots grounded deeply inside the dusty earth, the acidity that lifted up into the sky, the sluggish, gradual unveiling of character with each sip….
You ask your consuming neighbor what it was: “Castel del Monte,” she yells over the noise. Though she didn’t catch the producer’s title, she did get the grape: Nero di Troia, an obscure choice that does so properly inside the neighborhood of the Castel it has its private sub-appellation.
Cannonau di Sardegna (Sar-dain-ya)
- Grape: Cannonau (can-nun-now)
- Space: Sardinia
- What to Pair: Drink a youthful Cannonau (perhaps barely chilled) with onerous cheeses/salami/olives, marinated vegetable antipasti, or the on a regular basis Sardinian dish of saffron Malloreddus with sausage, tomato, and pecorino Sardo. Pair a riserva, classico or subzone with grilled lamb brushed with rosemary.
All variations of Cannonau share the an identical major traits: ripe crimson cherries, blackberries and plum, medium- to darkish color, tender tannins, delicate floral aroma, a contact of untamed herbs, and a contact of salinity.
A riserva or classico will add further physique, depth, and getting older potential. And a Cannonau from one in every of many subzones can have further outlined character nuances reflecting its specific territory.
Cannonau is the realm’s most crucial grape and it is grown all via the island, reflecting its terribly varied terroirs.
Inside the hotter southern coastal areas, it produces riper, juicier wines with further Mediterranean have an effect on, whereas inside the mountains on {the japanese} facet, it is further muscular and structured, with higher physique and longer getting older potential.
Along with the basic Cannonau, there could also be moreover a riserva mannequin (longer minimal getting older), a Classico (further restricted rising house), and three official subzones — Oliena, Jerzu, and Capo Ferrato — on {the japanese} facet.
Etna Rosso
- Grape: Nerello Mascalese
- Space: Sicily
- What to Pair: Drink a youthful Etna Rosso with grilled octopus and tomato or rare-seared tuna, or pair an older contrada wine with braised beef and bone marrow.
Clear garnet, with medium physique, fascinating aromas of dried rose, wild herbs and a contact of sulfur. Tart pomegranate and bitter cherry flavors, with prickly pear acidity, supple leathery tannins and a protracted mild finish.
Etna wines are typically filled with restraint, complexity and finesse, and develop properly over time, which explains why Etna Rosso has been in distinction by many tasters to Burgundy and Barolo.
Mount Etna is the biggest volcano in Europe and a few of the vigorous volcanoes on the planet. Grapes have been rising on Etna’s slopes manner again to the normal Greek settlers.
Along with soil, there are large variations in publicity (vines are planted on the northern, japanese and southern slopes) and altitude, creating huge day-to-night-time shifts, and an unusual combination of sub-tropical, Mediterranean, and Continental climates.
Add to this a preponderance of terribly earlier vines — 80-100+ years is not uncommon — plus the distinctive traits of the Nerello Mascalese grape (and its sidekick, Nerello Capuccio), and it’s possible you’ll get some very cool wines.
Now that you just’ve bulked up your document of Italian wines to attempt, don’t get intimidated! Lots of these wines are inside attain out of your native wine market or on-line, and just because they sound very good doesn’t suggest it is advisable to fill the cellar up at current.
Nevertheless no one would preserve it in opposition to you should you occur to did. Uncover way more delicious choices with our Italian Wine Exploration Data.