Why it matters
The producer
Luigi Tecce farms old Aglianico in the Irpinian hills of Campania, in a hamlet called Contrada Trinità on the edge of Paternopoli. He is the fourth generation of his family to work these parcels, and the first to bottle under his own name. The estate was formally founded in 2003, but Luigi took over the vineyards six years earlier, in 1997, starting with just over one hectare. The range is three wines, all Aglianico, all grown on the same south-facing ridge at altitude, made in a cellar that relies on old chestnut vats and large Slavonian casks rather than new oak or concentrated extraction.
There is nothing ornamental here. The farming excludes herbicides and insecticides. Treatments use copper and sulfur, applied only when the vines need them. Production stays at 23,000 bottles a year across the three wines. The scale is deliberate.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Parternopoli sits in the Irpinia subzone of Campania, inland from Naples in the province of Avellino, at the heart of the Taurasi DOCG. Taurasi is Campania's most rigorous red wine appellation: Aglianico only, minimum three years of ageing before release, at least one of those years in oak. The DOCG covers a cluster of villages in the Irpinian hills, where elevation, continental temperatures and volcanic soils push Aglianico toward firm tannin, high acidity and slow development in the bottle.
Luigi Tecce's vineyards sit between Castelfranci and Paternopoli at roughly 550 metres, facing south on calcareous rocky soils dusted with volcanic residue. That altitude keeps summer heat from collapsing the fruit and preserves acidity through the long growing season. The calcareous base gives the wines their mineral backbone. The volcanic overlay adds a smoky, mineral undercurrent that appears in the tasting notes of every wine in the range.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Farming at Luigi Tecce is copper-sulfur only, applied selectively. No herbicides, no insecticides. The south-facing exposure and altitude together keep the canopy dry enough to reduce disease pressure, making blanket treatments unnecessary. The raggiera avellinese training on the century-old vines opens the plant into a wide fan, improves air circulation and reduces yield per vine without forcing it.
In the cellar, fermentation for the Taurasi bottlings happens in large open chestnut vats without added yeasts or temperature control beyond what the vessel and cellar temperature provide. Chestnut is porous and slightly tannic in itself, but the vessels are old enough that wood character is negligible. What the vats contribute is a slow, ambient fermentation and gentle extraction. Satyricon, the entry wine, ferments in stainless steel instead, which preserves primary fruit and keeps the profile lighter.
Wines to know
The range in view
Satyricon (Campi Taurasini): Aglianico fermented in stainless steel and bottled under the broader Irpinian appellation rather than Taurasi DOCG. The steel preserves freshness and lifts primary fruit, giving this wine a more immediate character than the two Taurasi bottlings. It is the most accessible entry into the range: dark cherry, earthy and firm, with Aglianico's structural acidity intact but without the density of 24-month cask ageing.
Poliphemo (Taurasi DOCG): Named for the Homeric cyclops, Poliphemo is fermented in the large open chestnut vats and aged in Slavonian casks. The 2019 vintage offers concentrated Aglianico fruit, dark and layered, with firm tannin, earthy depth and the slow unfurling typical of a wine that has spent two years in large wood before bottling. The chestnut fermentation produces a fuller, rounder extraction than steel, and the Slavonian ageing adds length without sweetening the oak influence.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Puro Sangue. It is 100 percent Aglianico, Taurasi DOCG, from the century-old vines in Contrada Trinità, fermented in old chestnut vats and aged 24 months in large Slavonian casks. The nose opens on black cherry and plum before smoke, iron and tobacco arrive. On the palate, the fruit is concentrated and dark, the acidity runs firm and high, the tannin grips but does not rasp. The finish is long, mineral and dry. One bottle of Puro Sangue shows what this grape does at altitude on calcareous soil with minimal intervention in both vineyard and cellar, which is the complete argument Luigi Tecce is making.