Aglianico wine variety in Australia

Aglianico is a robust red wine variety from Southern Italy which is now used in Australia

There are now more than four dozen producers of Aglianico in Australia

Aglianico, the name of this red wine variety which is now at home in Southern Italy, is believed to be derived from Ellenico, the Italian word for Greek. This gives us a clue that the wine may have been introduced by the Greeks who settled in Southern Italy a couple of millennia ago.

The variety hasn't moved far since, seemingly content to hibernate in obscurity in the southern Italian regions of Campania and Basilicata, but that is now changing.

In his latest book Wine Terroir and Climate Change, Gladstones includes Aglianico in Maturity Group 8, along with varieties such as Montepulciano, Mourvedre and Carignan.  This means it is a late maturing variety, best suited to warmer wine regions.

In Italy this variety makes full bodied elegant wines with firm tannins and high acidity. Aglianico is made into varietal wines or is often the dominant variety in blends.

It sometimes plays a minor role in blends with other varieties such as the ubiquitous Sangiovese.

Australian wineries have been slow to adopt this variety compared to other recent imports but the number of producers is growing steadily.  Aglianico's ability to make deeply coloured and aromatic wines in warm to hot regions indicate that it is a variety with considerable future in Australia. 

As more wineries and grapegrowers become more concerned about global warming they are looking for varieties like this one, and for example the white varieties Fiano and Bianco d'Alessano.

Aglianico in Italy

The Italian DOCGs of Taurasi in Campania and Aglianico of Vulture in Basilicata are where the best Aglianico wines are produced. Learn about Italian wine regions with this map.

Australian WIneries using Aglianico

Innovative label design, innovative wine. Hither and Yon McLaren Vale

• 4382 Terroir Granite Belt
• Amadio Adelaide Hills
• Atze's Corner Wines Barossa Valley
• Ballandean Estate Granite Belt
• Beach Road McLaren Vale
• Bunyip Hollow North East Victoria
• Calabria Family Wines Riverina
• Cantina Abbatiello Riverland
• Carillion Wines Orange
• Chalmers Heathcote
• Chrismont King Valley
• Conte Estate Wines McLaren Vale
• Cradle of Hills McLaren Vale
• D'Arenberg McLaren Vale
• Dell'uva Wines  Barossa Valley
• Di Lusso Estate Mudgee
• Dowie Doole McLaren Vale
• Fighting Gully Road Beechworth
• Grey Sands Northern Tasmania
• Grosset Clare Valley
• Hidden Creek Granite Belt
• Hither and Yon McLaren Vale
• Hofer Family Wines Langhorne Creek
• Il Modo Murray Darling
• Izway Wines Barossa Valley
• La Curio McLaren Vale
• L’Enologa Murray Darling
• La Prova Adelaide Hills
• Lethbridge Wines Geelong
• Mr Black Barossa Valley
• Next Crop Wines Langhorne Creek
• Ngeringa Adelaide Hills
• Otherness Barossa Valley
• Pertaringa McLaren Vale
• Pepper Tree Wines Hunter Valley
• Prometheus Riverland
• Purple Hands Wines Barossa Valley
• Sabella Wines McLaren Vale
• Saddlers Creek Wines Hunter Valley
• Scarpantoni Estate McLaren Vale
• SC Pannell McLaren Vale
• Sew and Sew McLaren Vale
• Signor Vino Riverina
• Somos McLarenVale
• Surveyor's Hill Winery Canberra
• Susuro Adelaide Hills
• Sutton Grange Winery Bendigo
• Tallavera Grove Winery Hunter Valley
• Thistledown McLaren Vale
• Trentham Estate Murray Darling
• View Road Wines Adelaide Hills
• Whitches Falls Queensland Zone
• Witches Falls Winery Granite Belt

Award winning Aglianico

At the 2022 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show ten Aglianico wines were judged.  Two Gold, three Silver and two Bronze medals were awarded.  Purple Hands won gold and trophy for best wine in show for their 2021 After Five Wine Co Aglianico. Izaway also won gold for their 2021 Mates Aglianico.

Subscribers to Vinodiversity Community get invites to Darby's Special Taste and Talk Sessions. 

More Italian red wine varieties used in Australia

Aglianico and food

Spaghetti Putanesca

These wines are firm and full bodied. Perhaps you could choose a game dish such as wild boar, or kangaroo.

In Southern Italian cuisine spicier sauces are often used for pasta dishes. One of the favourites in the region is Spaghetti alla puttanesca, prostitute's spaghetti, where the sauce is made with garlic, olive oil and tomatoes but given a spicier savoury flavour by the addition of anchovies, capers and chilli.

See more about Food Pairing with Aglianico in Evan Goldstein's Daring Pairings book

Fighting Gully Road Aglianico