The most prized examples of Aglianico come from the volcanic soils within the Taurasi appellation, a hilly winemaking zone located in Campania, about an hour east of Naples. This area has roots of winemaking dating back to 800 BC. There are many strict laws to be labeled Taurasi DOCG including elevation of the vines, aging in oak, and pages of other minute details. If the wine does not satisfy these requirements the wines must be labeled “Irpinia Campi Taurasini,” roughly translated to “the fields of Taurasi.” It could be thought of in the same way you would compare the famous Rosso di Montalcino being a referred to as “Baby Brunello,” since the vines sometimes come from just a few feet away from a wine twice its price labelled Brunello di Montalcino.

In this particular case I Favati uses the same vineyard for their high end Taurasi that they do for this bottling, it is just made with less aging. The 5 acre vineyard is named “Cretarossa,” and is planted at 450-500 meters of elevation, in the province of Avellino. The grapes are fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel, then gently pressed into neutral French oak barrels for 12 months, then rest for 3 months again in tank before being bottled.

The 2010 I Favati “Cretarossa” has a saturated dark ruby color moving to the rim where you find colors of crimson with orange reflections. The aromatics are sunkissed and ripe showing notes of wild raspberry, dried strawberry, dried black cherry and black plum while balanced with earthy notes of dried rose petals, fennel, clay, volcanic dust, leather, cedar and tobacco. The palate is richly textured and layered with flavors identical to the nose along with abundant, yet soft tannins. Ideally decant this wine for about 20 minutes and enjoy out of a large burgundy stem and roughly 60-65 degrees. This is about as serious of a wine you can find at this price.