Luigi Tecce, Campania

Luigi Tecce's 4ha wine estate is located 550 metres high among Campania's Irpinian hills on the border of the Castelfanci & Paternopoli villages on calcareous rocky soils overlain with a smattering of volcanic dust. The area is famous for producing fine wines from the Aglianico grape that is then vinified as Taurasi DOCG. Similar terrain indeed to that of Serralunga d'Alba, Piedmont, giving wines that are richly intense but also with a scintillating structure for longer ageing. Since 1997 Luigi's been bottling the fruit from his oldest, 80 year old vines (trees!) from Paternopoli as the damsen fruited Taurasi DOCG, while nearby younger Castelfranci vines provide the juice for his earlier drinking, racy raspberry fruited Campitaursini DOC. Vinification takes places without intervention in large open chestnut vats for Taurasi & stainless-steel for Campitaurasini; invecchiamento/ageing in large Gamba slavonian botte for 24 months. Since 2009 he's been playing with amphora.  Production is limited and no pesticides are used either in the vine or cantina, so giving an authentic artisanal expression of Campanian Aglianico.