This is a muscular grizzly bear of a wine just emerging from hibernation. In the glass, it’s a deep, nearly opaque ruby-black with hints of garnet and brick orange at the rim, with aromas that make you feel as if you’ve just stepped into a humidor: saturated fruit aromas of black cherry, mulberry, and black plum share the stage with more mature notes of orange peel, licorice, grill char, tobacco, wild herbs, graphite, Turkish coffee, and leather. Given the hardy tannic structure of Aglianico, not a lot of wood—and especially not a lot of new wood—is necessary, and this wine has a very restrained oak component. It’s all about dark, spicy fruit and dusty, mineral-rich earth, with tannins that time has sanded down to a smooth, fine-grained accent note. It’s heady and intense but also beautifully balanced, with shades of everything from aged Left Bank Bordeaux to Malbec from Cahors to richer styles of Barolo.