Cantina Giardino Aglianico Clown 2012
Product details
| Management number | 253562853 | Release Date | 2026/10/24 | List Price | CA$34.40 | Model Number | 253562853 | ||
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The Clown Oenologue is Cantina Giardino's amphora-driven Aglianico, sourced from vines over 80 years old at the Montemarano vineyard in Irpinia, Campania. Grapes are harvested by hand in late October or early November and fermented whole-cluster with no destemming directly in 200-liter terracotta amphorae, where skin contact continues for approximately 12 months with no added sulfur. The wine is then manually pressed in wood and transferred to old large oak barrels for a further 12 months of aging. It is bottled unfined and unfiltered with no additions of any kind.
Production is extremely limited — around 150 cases per vintage. The Montemarano vineyard sits within the province of Avellino on volcanic and clay-limestone soils at high elevation, adjacent to the Taurasi DOCG zone. Aglianico here ripens late, often into November, developing firm tannins, pronounced acidity, and dark fruit character that rewards extended cellaring.
At over a decade from harvest, the 2012 shows the evolution characteristic of amphorae-raised, whole-cluster Aglianico: notes of dried dark fruit, earth, tobacco, and garrigue, with tannins that have had time to integrate. The wine retains the structural grip and cool-toned acidity that define Irpinia Aglianico, alongside the oxidative complexity introduced by extended amphora contact.
Classified as Campania IGT, which gives Antonio and Daniela De Gruttola the flexibility to work outside the formal DOCG framework while drawing from one of the most respected Aglianico growing areas in southern Italy.
Bestseller ranking
Red Wine
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