Gaglioppo

Let's take a trip today; it's not going to be an easy one. The first part of our journey won't be easy as flights to Rome are plentiful. But, when we land in Rome, we are dismayed when we learn that the one flight today from Rome to Lamezia Terme has been canceled as the pilot has taken ill. We'll have to charter a small plane. Ordinarily a one hour flight, ours is taking a bit longer today as the only planes available to us don't have quite the get up and go of the commercial plane we had planned to fly.

From Lamezia Terme, on the west coast of Italy and near the toe of the boot by which the shape of the country is identified, we head mostly south into the compartment of Calabria. Calabria is known for its very warm and extremely dry climate in a somewhat mountainous region that slopes down quickly to the sea on all sides.

When I am thinking food, the first thing about Calabrian that comes to mind are their famous Calabrian Chili peppers. Quite hot if eating them alone, Calabrian Chilis are fairly unique among chili peppers in that they are also quite fruity and salty. That combination gears itself well to the highly acidic and often tannic red wines of southern Italy. Today, we are headed up into the Calabrian Mountains to taste one.

Gaglioppo is a pretty obscure red grape. And, it's been difficult to accurately genotype. That said, it is thought to have been the offspring of Sangiovese and some other currently unknown grape with a lot of similarities to Aglianico.

It's not particularly easy to grow in most places. It loves heat and drought and hates tain. In fact, it is particularly susceptible to mold and downy mildew at the slightest hint of rain during growing season. Thankfully on the southeastern slopes of the mountain here, rain during the summer is virtually non-existent, sunlight is direct producing hot days, but evenings are cool and that steep diurnal temperature gradient produces excellent acidity in the wines.

Today's Gaglioppo that we are tasting is absolutely bone dry, perhaps a bit astringent and will benefit from a few years laying down. It's medium-bodied with firm tannins and good acidity. The taste profile is quite interesting as we get lots of red fruit on the front palate, particularly red currants with some raspberry, but as the wine moves back on our palate, that fruit begins to intermingle with leather and hints of firm, aged clay, as well as sweet tobacco.

We're pairing today with a traditional Margherita pizza topped with, what else, Calabrian Chilis. The match is perfect. The acidity in the Gaglioppo calms the tomatoes while the tannins handle the heat and saltiness of chilis quite well. 

I cannot imagine pairing this wine with anything but southern Italian food or something quite similar. If you're not a pizza eater, try Pasta Bolognese.