Macarico, Aglianico del Vulture “Macarico”

The Aglianico grape reaches its greatest heights on the upper slopes of Monte Vulture, an extinct volcano in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. As SommSelect’s David Lynch (re)asserts, these world-class reds don’t get the respect they deserve, resulting in under-priced gems like this one:Based on what I’ve seen so far, after nearly two years with SommSelect, southern Italy’s Aglianico grape has yet to find a mainstream audience. I’m doing everything I can to change that, as are the vignaioli of Campania and Basilicata, where the greatest expressions of the variety are grown. I’m also hoping that today’s Aglianico del Vulture from Macarico heralds a trend toward brightness and elegance in wines known mostly for blunt-force power. Grown on the slopes of Monte Vulture, a spent volcano in tiny Basilicata, Aglianico del Vulture can be inky, mineral, and often bruisingly tannic—a style which dominated in the early aughts, when I first started working with these wines—but if you take