Colli di Lapio Irpinia Aglianico 2024
We have 12 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
Lapio is famous for white wine. The village grows a large share of all Fiano di Avellino and is one of the few places in Irpinia that sits inside two DOCGs, Fiano and Taurasi. Colli di Lapio is based in Arianiello, a small district in the upper part of the village, on airy, south-facing slopes at about 600 meters. Summers bring warm days and cool nights with a wide swing between them, which keeps acidity high in Aglianico, a late-ripening grape that here is not picked until early November. This red grows on calcareous clay marl with sandstone. The label reads Irpinia Campi Taurasini, the subzone covering Taurasi country, so this is Aglianico from Campania grown in Taurasi territory and made to drink sooner.
The Wine
Colli di Lapio Irpinia Campi Taurasini 2024 is 100% Aglianico, a wine the family first made in 2000. Hand-picked fruit ferments for about 20 days in stainless steel with regular pump-overs, and the wine is then raised in oak and rested three months in bottle before release. Aglianico's tannin can be ferocious; altitude and a long hang time give it ripeness without heaviness. Expect violet and lavender, crushed blackberry, black cherry, and red plum, a thread of bay leaf, cedar, and tar, then chalky tannin, citrus-bright acidity, and a mineral, licorice-tinged finish. In 2024, the inland high hills of Irpinia fared better than in 2023, when downy mildew hit hard, though growers across southern Italy still contended with drought.
The People
The Romano family grew grapes in Lapio for four generations and sold them all. Clelia Romano and her husband, Angelo, spent 12 years in Boston, where their children Carmela and Federico were born, before coming home to Irpinia in 1980 after Angelo's father died. In 1994 they stopped selling fruit and harvested their first vintage, and the Fiano that followed made the estate's name. It remains a family operation: Angelo works the vineyards, Carmela and Federico handle the cellar and sales, and Clelia steps in wherever she is needed, with enologist Angelo Pizzi consulting. Alongside their Fiano, the family farms a small Aglianico plot beside the house and works with growers in Venticano, inside the Taurasi DOCG. Their red carries the same clarity that made their white a benchmark.
Food Pairing
Irpinian Aglianico was made for the mountain cooking of inland Campania. Braise lamb shoulder with tomatoes, rosemary, and black olives until it falls apart; the tannin binds to the meat and the acidity keeps the sauce from weighing the wine down. Paccheri with a Neapolitan ragù of pork ribs and sausage simmered for hours stands up to the black fruit and chalky grip. Grilled lamb chops with salsa verde pick up the bay and herbal notes. Or blister slices of caciocavallo in a hot pan and serve them with charred broccoli rabe and chili, where salt and bitterness meet the fruit head-on. This is the red for the first cold night of the season, when the oven stays on all afternoon.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Italy – South encompasses the sun-drenched regions of Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata, and Molise, where ancient vines thrive in volcanic soils, limestone hills, and coastal plains. Campania’s volcanic slopes around Vesuvius yield complex wines from Aglianico, Fiano, and Greco, while Basilicata’s high-altitude vineyards on Mount Vulture produce bold, age-worthy Aglianico del Vulture. Puglia stretches across fertile flatlands and limestone ridges, known for robust reds from Primitivo and Negroamaro. Calabria and Molise, though lesser-known, preserve a wealth of native varieties grown in rugged, mountainous terrain. Intense sun, varied altitudes, and ancient soils give Southern Italy’s wines their deep character, concentration, and sense of place.
