WTN: 2004 Benito Ferrara Irpinia Aglianico

[Brad Ballinger]

2004 Benito Ferrara Irpinia Aglianico, Campania IGT. It was time for another pizza wine adventure. Before getting into the specifics of this particular wine, I think, overall, I preferred the Vesevo Beneventano Aglianico to this one, at about half the price. In a room full of people drinking wine and eating pizza, however, my guess is the Ferrara would win a polling contest.

I picked this wine up because I've really enjoyed Benito Ferrara's Greco di Tufo wines, particularly the Vigna di Cicogna. I went into the only wine shop in town where I can get the Ferrara Greco di Tufo and was surpised to see a Fiano di Avellino and this Irpinia Aglianico from Ferrara. I was told they also now produce a Taurasi (aglianico). To my knowledge, they only made Greco di Tufo. In fact, if you go to their web site today (click here), and click on "wines," the only ones that come up are the two Greco di Tufo wines they produce. But maybe Marc de Grazia is somehow orchestrating the production of these other wines.

Onto the wine. Nose of candied berries. A small amount of off-putting alcohol on the nose. In the mouth, I got the impression that every ripe ounce of juice had been extracted out of the grapes and then concentrated. The fruit profile, in fact, is quite lovely. But there really wasn't any secondary elements in terms of flavor profile, and the structure was rather simple. A good straightforward presentation. For my money, however, I'll opt for the Vesevo.