Producer

Elena Fucci

I have reviewed one wine from Elena Fucci: the 2021 Elena Fucci “Titolo” Aglianico del Vulture (94 points). Elena Fucci also features in one journal article on this site.

Elena Fucci is a one-woman revolution in Basilicata. Her name is synonymous with “Titolo”, a single six-hectare vineyard of old-vine Aglianico planted by her grandfather on the volcanic slopes of Monte Vulture. Just as her family was about to sell it, Elena, fresh out of oenology school, chose to come home and dedicate herself to this plot of 70-year-old vines rooted in black volcanic soil at 600 metres. For years she made only one wine.

Titolo is widely considered the benchmark for modern Aglianico del Vulture: mineral, structured and elegant, dispelling the myth that the grape must be rustic. French oak polishes Aglianico’s powerful tannins without masking the site. The electric 2021 offers dark cherry, blackberry, balsamic and licorice with volcanic ash, graphite and a flinty, smoky minerality, and it will reward fifteen to twenty years in the cellar.

Her connection to the place keeps evolving: the Titolo Vermouth is built on her own Aglianico and infused with herbs and botanicals from Vulture’s slopes, a structured, dark-fruited vermouth di terroir.