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Aglianico is one of Italy’s most prestigious red grape varieties, originally brought from Greece to southern Italy by ancient Greek settlers. Primarily cultivated in the Campania region - especially in the provinces of Avellino and Benevento - Aglianico has since expanded to neighboring regions such as Apulia, Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise, where it continues to thrive.
Renowned for its affinity with volcanic soils, Aglianico produces some of southern Italy’s finest red wines, including the iconic Taurasi DOCG, often referred to as the "Barolo of the South" due to its structure and aging potential. The grape’s naturally high tannins and acidity make it ideal for long aging, with time spent in oak barrels helping to soften its bold structure and enhance its elegance.
The expansion of Aglianico cultivation has led to two distinct expressions of the grape:
- Aglianico, primarily grown in Campania, where it delivers deep, complex wines with dark fruit flavors and earthy undertones.
- Aglianico del Vulture, cultivated in Basilicata, where the volcanic soils of Mount Vulture contribute to its intense minerality and distinctive character.
Aglianico wines are known for their full bodied structure, firm tannins, and high acidity, giving them exceptional aging potential. In its youth, Aglianico can be quite tannic and concentrated, requiring a few years of bottle aging to develop its signature complexity. Over time, the fruit flavors - often dark cherry, plum, and blackberry - become more pronounced, while the tannins soften, resulting in a smoother, more refined wine.
Aglianico thrives in warm, dry climates and is a late ripening variety, often harvested as late as November. This extended growing season allows the grape to develop its bold flavors while maintaining its characteristic acidity, ensuring a balanced and structured final wine.
Aglianico del Vulture is an ancient red grape variety originating from Greece. It owes its name to the term Elleanico (in Italian it means Greek), that during the Government of Aragon changed in pronunciation. Its birthplace is definitely the Vulture area in Basilicata, in the province of Potenza. Mount Vulture (1326 m.s.l.) is an extinct volcano and on its slopes Aglianico has found its perfect climate and soil conditions. The Aglianico del Vulture is a variety with small bunches, with grapes of an intense blue color that prefers high volcanic soils and hills, sensitive to the heat and autumn frosts.
The spread of the Aglianico grape led to the registration in the National Register of Grapes of two different grape varieties, the Aglianico, grown mainly in Campania, and the Aglianico del Vulture, grown in Basilicata.
Aglianico del Vulture has black, medium-small, ellipsoidal berries with waxy, thin, black skin. The cluster is medium-small, cylindrical, often winged, and compact. The wines made from the Aglianico del Vulture grapes have a deep ruby color with a fruity, very intense, nose evolving with age and becoming more complex, acquiring scents of spices and flowers. The Aglianico del Vulture is a wine of great concentration, alcohol content, structure and minerality and suited to wood ageing.
The Aglianicone grape has ancient origins and was brought to Italy probably by the Greeks. It was long time known as a variant of the best-known grape Aglianico, but actually it corresponds more closely to the Ciliegiolo and is related to the Montepulciano. It gives a modest quality wine and this prompted it to mix with common varieties for table wines, where Aglianicone makes a good contribution of acidity. However, there are attempts to obtain a quality wine made purely of this variety by controlling the yields and cellar practices.
Aglianicone has black, medium, round berry with thick, solid, waxy, blue-black skin. The bunch is medium-large, cylindrical, compact with medium or medium-large, pentagonal, three or five lobed leaves.
The vine Aglianicone gives an intense ruby red wine, fairly tannic, sometimes of a bitter sour taste.
The Albana vine has spread mainly in Emilia-Romagna. Its origin seems to date back to Roman times, from the Colli Albani area.
There are various clones of the Albana vine with slightly different morphological characteristics: Albana Gentile di Bertinoro and Albana della Compadrona have the largest cluster, Albana della Serra has a more elongated bunch, Albana della Bagarona has a medium-large and Albana della Gaiana has a smaller cluster.
The ampelographic characteristics of the Albana vine make it suitable for getting raisin vines of great value.
The berry is white, medium and spheroid with yellow-green or golden skin, waxy, thin, consistent. The cluster is sometimes compact, has one or two wings with a large, pentagonal, five-lobed or three-lobed leaf.
The Albana grape has good vigor. The fact of presenting clusters typically sparse and berries with resistant peel makes this variety particularly suitable for drying.
The wine obtained from the Albana grape turns to golden with intense aromas and good balance between freshness and softness. The Albana di Romagna DOCG Passito is among the most popular and most award-winning dessert wines in Italy.
The Albarola grape is particularly widespread in Liguria, from the Italian Riviera di Ponente to Tuscany. It has remarkable similarities with the Bianchetta genovese and many believe that it is its synonym. It makes part of the wine composition “Cinque terre Sciacchetrà DOC”, a pearl wine of rare elegance and harmony.
The berry of Albarola is medium-small, ellipsoidal, white with waxy, thin, strong skin greenish or yellow, very clear. The bunch is medium or medium-small, cylindrical or conical, winged with medium-small, pentagonal or orbicular leaf.
The Albarola prefers cooler areas and requires traditional farming systems with short or mixed pruning. Its production is good and regular.
The Albarola grape gives a wine of a light straw yellow color, sometimes with greenish hues, accentuated by the aroma of a grass field.
Albarossa is a relatively unknown but promising red grape variety from Piedmont, Italy, created in 1938 by Professor Giovanni Dalmasso. His goal was to combine the best qualities of two of Piedmont’s iconic grapes, Nebbiolo and Barbera, into a single, superior variety. The resulting hybrid, initially called Incrocio Dalmasso XV/31, became known as Albarossa.
For many years, Albarossa was believed to be the offspring of Nebbiolo. However, DNA testing later revealed a surprising twist: the grape’s true "father" is not Nebbiolo, but Chatus, also known as Nebbiolo di Dronero, a lesser-known Alpine grape native to France and northwestern Italy. While not as noble as Nebbiolo, Chatus brings its own unique attributes to the hybrid.
Following decades of experimentation, Albarossa was officially registered in 2001 as a permitted grape variety for cultivation in the Asti, Alessandria, and Cuneo provinces of Piedmont. The variety quickly attracted interest from winemakers, including some prominent names,thanks to its impressive structure, aging potential, and ability to thrive in local terroirs.
The Albarossa grapes has a small, ellipsoidal, black berry with a waxy, thin skin, red-violet in color. Its bunch is medium-sized, pyramidal, winged, and moderately compact and medium, pentagonal, five-lobed leaf. The grape prefers dry, calcareous hills soil rich in microelements
Albarossa wines are typically intense ruby red in color, with a vinous aroma accented by spicy notes and red fruits, particularly cherry. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, vibrant, and well-suited to aging, often improving over time to reveal complexity and depth.
The Aleatico grape is a historic variety with Greek origins, now predominantly cultivated in Italy, especially in the regions of Tuscany, Puglia, and Lazio. This semi-aromatic black grape is believed to be a mutation of the Muscat family, sharing a subtle resemblance in its fragrant profile.
Aleatico is prized for its versatility, producing both dry and sweet wines of high quality. Notable examples include the Aleatico di Gradoli DOC from Lazio and the renowned Elba Aleatico Passito DOCG, a dessert wine from the island of Elba.
The Aleatico berry is medium-sized, black, with a distinctive irregular shape and waxy blue-brown skin with a medium sized cluster, elongated, winged. The leaf is large, pentagonal, orbicular, with three or five lobes. The Aleatico grapes thrives in sun-exposed hillsides, preferring warm climates. It has medium vigor and reliable, consistent yields.
The wine produced from Aleatico grapes typically features a ruby red color, intense floral and fruity aromas, and with age, it develops jammy and mature notes, making it ideal for aging.
In addition to its stronghold in central and southern Italy, Aleatico is also found in smaller quantities in Marche, Abruzzo, and Sicily. Beyond Italy, it has been planted in California, Australia, Chile, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Corsica (though not recognized for AOC wine production there).
Whether you're a wine enthusiast exploring niche Italian varietals or seeking a distinctive, aromatic grape, Aleatico offers unique complexity, especially in sweet passito style wines.
The Alionza is a white grape variety of uncertain origin. It is probably of Slavic origin, from which the appellation “Slave grape” which is attributed to it in the Bologna area. Cultivation in the provinces of Bologna and Modena started a long time ago. Alionza was once cultivated along with other local varietals. Today this grape is considered to be an endangered variety since it’s spread on a surface of less than 50 hectares throughout Italy.
The white berry is big, spheroid with a waxy, thick, large, yellow skin. Alionza has a large, pyramidal bunch with one or two large wings and medium, pentagonal, five lobes leaves.
The Alionza vine prefers well exposed soils and warm climates. It gives a straw colored wine, harmonious, preservable with good body.
The Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG is one of the most famous Italian red wine, mainly made of Corvina, Molinara and Rondinella, grapes grown in the Valpolicella area, between the Lake Garda and the city of Verona in Veneto, that are also used in the production of all Valpolicella wines.
The whole list of grapes allowed in the production of the Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG are listed in the “disciplinare”, the wine regulation that tells winemakers the characteristics the wine should have and the wine making process, and because of the long list of grapes allowed, it is rare to find wines made with exactly the same grapes and percentages, even within the same winery, percentages and grapes can change between vintages, therefore Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG wines can be very different between them.
Within the Valpolicella area, there are two subareas, one called “Classico”, the original growing area, and another called “Valpantena”, an area located in the north east of the Valpolicella area, and all wines produced in the two areas are allowed to have the word “Classico” or “Valpantena” on the label together with Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG. Amarone della Valpolicella produced outside the areas cannot have any additional word about their provenance on the label.
The Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG is a unique wine due to its wine making process, after the grapes are picked, they are dried for what is normally a period of around 120 days, process called appassimento, with the aim of concentrating the sugar. The most immediate result of this process is wines with higher alcohol content and enhanced flavours. The dried grapes are then pressed and aged in barrels for at least two years and what is left is used in the making of the Valpolicella Ripasso, where the Valpolicella wine is "ri -passo", passed over, left, in the amarone pomace for 10/12 days to become the Valpolicella Ripasso. In the best years, Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva can be bottled and it has to be aged for a minimum of 4 years.
The Amarone della Valpolicella is a powerful, big red wine that ages well, and in 2009 it was granted DOCG status. Due to its commercial success, there are more and more Italian wines made following the "appassimento" method, drying the grapes to concentrate the sugar, wines that cannot be called Amarone due to the name being protected, but wines that have the word “appassimento” written on their label to highlight their style and wine making process.
Arneis is a historic white grape variety native to Piedmont, Italy, primarily cultivated in the Roero region, where it thrives in the sandy soils and rolling hills. Known for producing aromatic and elegant white wines, Arneis stands out in a region predominantly famous for its reds, such as Barolo and Barbaresco.
By the 1960s, Arneis was on the brink of extinction due to several challenges, including rural depopulation, economic struggles in the wine industry, and a stronger focus on Piedmont's red grape varieties. However, a handful of visionary winemakers recognized its potential and began replanting and refining the grape, bringing it back into prominence as a high-quality white wine from Piedmont.
In recent years, wineries have intensified their efforts to enhance Arneis wine quality through clonal selection and innovative winemaking techniques. This has resulted in wines with greater depth, structure, and consistency, solidifying Arneis as an outstanding Italian white wine. While Piedmont remains the heartland of Arneis production, its proximity to Liguria has led to small but notable plantings in that region as well.
Arneis wines are celebrated for their floral and fruity aromas, often featuring notes of white peach, pear, citrus, and almond, along with a characteristic minerality. Typically medium-bodied with balanced acidity, Arneis wines offer a refreshing alternative for white wine lovers seeking something beyond the usual Italian varietals.
With its fascinating history, ongoing evolution, and increasing popularity, Arneis has firmly reestablished itself as one of Italy’s most exciting white grape varieties.
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