Varietals: 100% Aglianico di Taurasi
Region: Campania
Appellation: Irpinia Aglianico DOC
Color: Ruby red color
Aroma: A complete bouquet of cherry jam, sweet spices, licorice, coffee and cacao
Taste: Balanced in the mouth with background of toast and spice; minerality with a long, pleasant finish.
Fermentation: Manual harvesting starts in mid-late October and lasts until early November. After pressing, a 10 day maceration on the skins and alcoholic fermentation takes place in stainless steel 75˚F for 10 days. Malolactic fermentation takes place in wood.
Aging: 18 months in medium-toasted new French oak barriques. A minimum aging of 8 months in bottle prior to release.
Alcohol: 14.5%
The new winery was inaugurated in 2004, reflecting Feudi di San Gregorio’s wish to blend its long-standing tradition with a futuristic architectural project. Climbing up the hill towards Sorbo Serpico, you enter a magical world, with streams of water, herb gardens and blossoming rose bushes. The greatest surprise however is inside the winery, with the long barrel cellar where we store our red wines. Internationally renowned professionals were involved in our project: Japanese architect Hikaru Mori was entrusted with the difficult task of giving architectural unity to the existing structures that had been developed over the years. Massimo and Lella Vignelli, top representatives of Italian design in the world and “authors” of the winery’s labels, designed the interiors and the furnishings.
Our modern approach to wine-making ensures that our native grapes reach their full potential. We do this both by understanding the climate and thanks to our impressive barrel aging cellar. Each of the estate’s vineyards is equipped with a solar powered meteorological station that gathers data continuously. By closely monitoring the environment, the estate is actively practicing eco-compatible viticulture, thereby reducing the need for artificial methods to an absolute minimum.
We also have a state of the art barrique cellar that is over 650 feet in length, this phenomenal cellar houses an impressive 6,000 French oak barriques for aging red wines, along with several large Austrian oak vats reserved for refining select whites.
We consider the vineyards to be of utmost importance to the wine we make and therefore work with the best team to create healthy vines. Marco Simonit and Pierpaolo Sirch are “vine whisperers”. Marco today is head of Preparatori D’Uva, a team devoted to spreading the Simonit&Sirch know-how with specific vine pruning courses. Pierpaolo has a long-standing collaboration with Feudi di San Gregorio, having worked in the winery’s production area since 2003 and as its chief executive officer since 2009. The Simonit & Sirch Method is what we use in our vineyards in order to increase vascular flow and extend vine life. Usual pruning methods result in the formation of “desiccation cones” in the vine wood, interrupting vascular flow and exposing vines to disease.
Marco and Pierpaolo are committed to the safeguarding of unique territories, such as Irpinia, and to the protection and preservation of their exceptional ampelographic heritage. For over 15 years, the Simonit&Sirch team has been working with Professor Scienza of the University of Milan, studying Irpinia’s ancient vineyards (from 70/80 to over 200 years old), their genetics and their reproduction, carrying out a painstaking and in-depth study that has taught us how important it is look to the past in order to build our future. This is how Serpico and Sirica were born: Serpico, condensing the fruit of centuries-old vines of Aglianico, and Sirica, the product of the genetic reproduction of three “ancestor” vines of a local Campanian variety believed to be extinct. Over the years, our mission has been that of acquiring land that is home to centuries-old vines; we are particularly proud of our Serpico garden vineyard – a land growing over two hundred ancestral-vines that survived phylloxera and which today offer a unique and truly magnificent sight. It is as if these great “ancestor” vines were like caring fathers encouraging their offspring to take the right path in life.
Aglianico:
Aglianico is an ancient grape which thrives on volcanic soils in Campania. The most reknown Aglianico wines come from Taurasi in the province of Avellino. Considered the king of Southern red wine varieties, it produces wines that tend to be deep in color, tannic and intense. They can age for decades. Aglianico is famous from both Campania and neighboring Basilicata where the vine grows on Mount Vulture.