WanderCurtis Wine

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Tag Archives: Basilicata


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The Wine Regions of Southern Italy

Here are the last summaries for Italy, condensing the WSET Diploma D3 material on the country’s  southern regions.

The regions all have a Warm Mediterranean climate with higher quality wines coming from DOC/G areas moderated by altitude or sea breezes. These regions are also the home of number of wonderful indigenous varietals that thrive in the heat.  Regions include: Campagnia on the west coast, Basilicata on the western side of the Apennines, Puglia the heel of Italy surrounded by sea on three sides and of course the islands of Sicily, Sardinia and tiny Pantelleria.

Again the notes are organised into the key subject areas of: climate, topography, growing hazards, wine law, grape varieties, wine growing and wine making practices.

See the Italy wine regions overview to put this in context.

Italy Southern Wine Producing Regions Part 1 KCDownload
Italy Southern Wine Producing Regions Part 2 KCDownload

Sources include: WSET Diploma Wines of the World.

Note this document is intended for personal use only not for commercial or promotional use. We accept no liability for any omissions or errors that may be contained in the document.


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Vulcanico Falanghina 2022, Paternoster.

I must admit to not being very familiar with this grape variety until my Diploma studies and so I was happy to find this example in a wine shop at the airport in Verona to pick up and try.

The Campagnia region is better known for the Falanghina grape variety, grown on the slopes of Vesuvious near Naples. However this example is from Basilicata slightly further south which also has volcanic soils and a bit of elevation.  Falanghina is disease resistant and so was traditionally used to reliably produce everyday drinking wines but wine makers are increasingly producing more interesting wines from lower yielding plots.

The colour is rich lemon and with some coaxing there are floral notes of honeysuckle, some citrus, orchard fruit, a touch of nectarine and some dried herbs.  Its dry with a full body as you would expect from southern Italy but there a good amount of acidity keeping it fresh which is also a common characteristic of indigenous Italian white varieties. Finally there is pleasing note of olive brine on the finish that lingers pleasantly.  The wine is not overly complex but has great balance both structurally and between fruity and savoury flavours making it work well with food.


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Rotondo Aglianico del Vulture 2012

From the Basilicata region in the south of Italy just where the ankle would be of whoever is wearing the uncomfortably high healed boot.

It is warm and mediterranean here but the slopes of Monte Vulture provide some cooling altitude to slow the growing season down allowing flavour to develop in the grapes. These mineral rich soils of volcanic ash and limestone over clay drain well but retain moisture which is also needed  for the grapes to grow in the warm climate.  

Aglianico is the other key ingredient here known as the Nebbiolo of the south.  This grape variety thrives in these harsh volcanic soils, ripening very late and retaining high levels of acidity. This along with a powerful tannic structure and concentrated fruit can create wines with great aging potential.

This wine by Paternoster which is 100% Aglianico has a deep colour displaying its bottle age. Out of the glass jump black berries, black cherries and herbal notes of dried thyme and liquorice. It’s seen some newish oak evident from the touch of vanilla, coffee and smoke and there are lovely mature aromas of prune, prosciutto and tobacco.

In the mouth it is definitely full bodied but has great balance, the abundant tannins are firm but ripe and fine grained. It remains fresh through the long finish and there is not a hint of heat. In fact, 14% seems pretty restrained in these times when a lot of pinot noirs are coming in at 14.5%.

Look at for this grape variety from Vulture DOC and the more premium Superiore DOCG version.  It is also the major component of wines from Taurasi in Campagnia where it is generally softened with a little Piedirosso in the blend.