2019 Elena Fucci Aglianico del Vulture Titolo
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Full bottle 1,246 g. Vines aged 50–70 years in Barile on volcanic soils. Uncrushed berries fermented in tank and then malo and ageing in 200-litre French oak (50% new) for 12 months. Unfiltered. 12 months in bottle before release. Like the other Elena Fucci wines, this benefits from aeration and is even better on the day after opening. Deep crimson. Has some of the meaty sweetness that I found on the SCEG initially, and some oak sweetness. Then lovely, tangy, spicy black fruit, with a wild quality to it – wild not domesticated in its character, some black-cherry sweetness to balance the wildness. Notes of tobacco, and mineral/stony too. The harmonious ripeness of a long season, with high acidity and high tannins, the oak barely touching the sides of the fruit at the moment and the wine so embryonic but already in balance. Powerfully structured by both the tannins and the acidity, a really good example of untamed Aglianico made in a refined way for long ageing. Real purity and respect for the variety and the terroir. (JH)
Critic scores
Average Score
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
The winter preceding 2019 was less harsh than normal, and with less rain, while spring and summer saw frequent precipitation. The grapes were harvested on 23 October. ‘It is a more concentrated Aglianico, which reminds me of 2017, but with plenty of minerality and elegance. The freshness comes from the large diurnal temperature differences the vineyards on the volcanic slopes experience.’ South-east exposure with vines of between 50 and 70 years old at 600 m above sea level in Barile. Only two weeks on the skins, then it is racked, pressed and the wine goes back for a week in stainless steel to separate it from the gross lees. It is then transferred into barriques and tonneaux (50% new). Then all casks are put together for one single blend, bottled and aged for an additional year. Bottle number 7,284 of 26,122. Deep ruby. Spice and dark fruit on the nose with an undertow of savoury oak. Succulent dark-cherry and red-fruit palate with an elegant palate weight. Ripe, juicy red fruit with chewy tannins. Very long and elegant with a savoury, polished oak note. (WS)
The 2019 Aglianico del Vulture Titolo is stunning. It opens with a bit of an exotic flair, mixing smoky plum and lavender with animal musk, crushed ashen stone and a whiff of sour citrus that lights up the senses. Then it enters the palate silky and pliant, quickly gaining in youthful tannic tension, but not before providing a preview of mentholated herbal tones and depths of mineral-laden dark fruits that will take center stage after a few years of cellaring. This finishes incredibly long yet structured, leaving a staining of primary concentration to linger under an air of pretty inner florals and savory spice. I believe the 2019 may one day rank among the best vintages ever produced of Elena Fucci’s Titolo.