AGLIANICO
by Daniel Thomases
Aglianico appears
to be one of the oldest grape varieties to be cultivated in
a systematic fashion in Italy, a conclusion which can be deduced
from the name of the grape itself: "aglianico" is
a corruption of ellenico, the Italian word for "Hellenic"
or, more simply, Greek. And Aglianico, in fact, appears to
be of Greek origin, brought to a wide area to the south of
Rome by settlers whose colonies dotted various regions of
today's southern Italy - Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, and Campania
- and created the cultural and political area known as Magna
Graecia, "Greater Greece". Naples, just to take
one example, takes its name from the Greek colony known as
Neapolis (polis, the word from which "politics"
is derived, being of course the Greek word for a city-state),
and the temples created for the colonists' religious rites
can be seen - often still an impressive, even awe-inspiring,
sight - at Agrigento, Segesta, and Selinunte in Sicily and
at Paestum to the south of Naples and Salerno. The splendid
simplicity of the last of these sites has inspired countless
visitors over recent years, prominent among them Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe, and was of fundamental importance for the neo-classical
movement in architecture of the second half of the 18th century
and the revival of respect for and interest in the Doric order
as a fundamental element of architecture.
Greek colonies tended to be grouped along the coastline, as
sea transport was, until the recent past, far more efficient,
economical, and rapid than overland travel. Aglianico, instead,
has migrated from the coast to the interior of the peninsula
and, until the 1990's, important wines from the grape were
produced almost exclusively around Avellino, the easternmost
province of the region of Campania, and to the northwest of
Potenza, the principal city and provincial capital of the
Basilicata region. The reason for this abandonment of the
coastline is not difficult to explain: the fall of the Roman
Empire and the dissolution both of the authority of the state
and settled and stable conditions of life led to centuries
of strife and upheaval marked by barbarian invasions and constant
raids from the sea on the part of hostile fleets or pirate
bands. The inevitable breakdown of the Roman system of dams,
dikes, and canals, obviously connected to these chaotic conditions,
also contributed to the spread of marsh and swampland in lower-lying
coastal areas and the creation of excellent breeding areas
for mosquitoes and malaria. The interior was by far a safer
and more salubrious place, and the high hills and the first
slopes of the Apennine mountain chain furnished both easily
defensible sites and settlements with a built-in early-warning
system: from heights of 1500-2000 feet above sea level, the
approach of hostile or menacing bands could be perceived well
in advance, with the obvious advantages which an ample margin
of time for organizing defense and resistance offered.
Plantings of Aglianico have greatly increased during the post-World
War II period, and a significant part of the new vineyards
have returned, in a sort of reverse migration towards the
coastline, to the probable first areas where the variety appeared
millennia ago, even though the lion's share of the new acreage
is in the provinces of Benevento, adjacent to Avellino, and
in the eastern part of the province of Caserta, once again
somewhat towards the interior. The grape has, however, returned
to the province of Salerno as well and is now cultivated,
and made into very good wine, virtually in the shadow of the
magnificent Doric temples of Paestum. Plantings have also
appeared in the valley of the Biferno River in Molise, a region
suspended between the influence of Abruzzo to the north and
that of Campania to the west. And, finally, valid and well
made Aglianico wines have begun to appear in the northwestern
part of Apulia, principally in the province of Bari, where
the land begins to rise towards the northeastern corner of
Basilicata. Total vineyard acreage was already close to 35,000
acres in 1991 and it seems safe to say that it is now significantly
larger: the quality of many of the new Aglianico-based wines
has given an important boost to the visibility and popularity
of the variety.
The reasons for the new respect and interest in this ancient
grape can be quickly enumerated. The principal one, needless
to say, is the quality of the wines themselves: the intensity,
concentration, and length of a well made Aglianico from grapes
that have been properly cultivated in the vineyard is matched
by very few wines in Italy or, for that matter, other parts
of the world. A firm ruby red in color, the wines are particularly
rich in dry extract: levels of 30 grams per liter are quite
common and 35 grams per liter anything but unusual, figures
which even the most powerful Cabernet or Syrah-based wines
rarely match. It is, accordingly, no surprise to find that
these wines have an excellent aging ability as well; various
vintages of the Taurasi Riserva of the Mastroberardino firm
of the late 1960's, the leading examples of Aglianico in that
period, are still drinking very well today, again something
which can be said of very few of the world's most renowned
wines.
Given these sterling attributes and qualities, one might logically
ask why the grape is not more widely cultivated and why more
outstanding examples of the wine have not been available until
recent years. The answer, quite simply, is the difficulty
the variety poses in the vineyard: despite popular ideas of
southern Italy as a land of palm trees and constant heat and
sunshine, Aglianico's native territory, the interior of the
mainland's south, is a high and hilly area, cut off from maritime
influences which might mitigate the rigor of the climate,
and temperatures at these altitudes, in narrow valleys which
often create conditions of shade as well, are far from balmy.
They are, in fact, frequently notably cooler than those of
places much further to the north such as Florence or Bologna.
The result is that Aglianico has an extremely long cycle in
the vineyard and its growing season is one of the longest
of any significantly cultivated grape. Harvests before mid-October
are almost unheard of, and in the classic areas around Avellino
and Potenza the harvest traditionally begins on All Saints
Day, November 1st. The risks of losing a substantial part
of the harvest to rain and rot have, in the past, induced
many growers to begin picking earlier, with results which
are anything but satisfactory: the wines tend to be tough
and astringent, with drying tannins which are far from pleasurable.
Better viticulture, with smaller yields per acre, are one
solution and have characterized the work of more serious producers
during the 1990's. The future unquestionably lies in more
tightly spaced vineyards, with a significantly larger number
of vines per acre to allow growers to combine quality (smaller
yields per vine) and a satisfactory crop size (from a larger
number of vines per vineyard surface). Some of the newer areas
for Aglianico, located at lower altitudes and closer to the
sea, will also benefit from the advantage of a somewhat shorter
growing season and earlier harvests. But only relatively so:
it is highly unlikely that fine wine can be produced from
grapes harvested much before the middle of October, and patience
and courage, the qualities which counted most in the past,
will still be required in the future. Aglianico has also benefited
from the quality revolution which has taken place in other
parts of Italy and the advances in technical and scientific
knowledge and awareness which this revolution has made available
to producers in all parts of the country. The importance of
clean and fresh wood, with a regular replacement of casks
and barrels in the cellar, is one such advance in knowledge
and understanding, and its application in the two major DOC
zones for the grape, Aglianico del Vulture and Taurasi, has
led to rounder, sweeter, and more complex wines, notably softer
and with more fruit, which have already established an important
position in the market and given new renown to a variety which
was already being cultivated in Italy when Hesiod was writing
his Works and Days.
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