One of Italy's poorest and least-known regions hides a great red on the slopes of an extinct volcano. Aglianico del Vulture grows in volcanic ash high above the plain, ripening late into a deep, structured, mineral wine that has earned Aglianico the nickname "the Barolo of the south" — all tar, black fruit and firm, ageworthy tannin.
The Greeks likely brought the vine here in antiquity, and the name itself may echo "Hellenic". Remote, mountainous and underrated, Basilicata makes one of the great southern Italian reds almost in secret, at prices that still reflect its obscurity.