Basilicata

What it lacks in volume it makes up for in a single grape. Aglianico covers 56 per cent of the vineyards, and 82 per cent of the wine is red — a reliance on red second only to Tuscany. Production is split roughly evenly between DOC wines, IGP wines and table wine.

The heart of it is the north, on the slopes of Monte Vulture, an extinct volcano rising to 1,327 metres, where Aglianico grows on volcanic tuff and ash around Rionero, Barile, Rapolla, Melfi and Venosa. There it makes Aglianico del Vulture and its Superiore, Basilicata's only DOCG. The region's other DOCs are Matera, Terre dell'Alta Val d'Agri and Grottino di Roccanova.