Italy churns out nearly one quarter of the world’s wine and lays claim to what seems to be an endless universe of red grape varieties….in fact, just too many to highlight.  Many have names that few will recognize (take Ughetta or Uva rara, for example).  My goal here is to highlight the more accessible and quality assured alternative varieties and their wines, leaving the very esoteric and sometimes uninspiring grapes aside.  As well, we’ll leave the topic of desert wines for another chapter.  For practical purposes, let’s define Barolo, Brunello, Barbaresco, Barbera and Chianti as mainstream and investigate some alternatives.

Aglianico: is a dark skinned grape yielding a full bodied red wine from the Southern Italian region of Campania and Basilicata.  The wines have the potential to express deep plum and chocolate aromas, and tinge the palate with full tannins and marked acidity.

Food Pairings: think classic Italian cuisine, braised beef, game roasted meats, osso buca, pizza, among others.