This is a powerhouse Italian red made from the often overlooked, but very delicious, Aglianico grape.
It was just under two years ago when we last found and reviewed an Aglianico from Costco, and that one was delicious as well, and much less expensive.
This bottle is getting up there in price at $34.99, and comes with a big 94 points from Wine Advocate. Online we found most outlets selling this wine for the same price, and one slightly less than Costco.
For readers who like big, bold, rustic, expressive Italian reds that hold nothing back, this is the wine for you.
It pours a deep purple in the glass with complex aromas of dried fruit, leather and spice; full bodied with heavy tannins and a good dose of acidity; flavors of black fruit, black cherry, plum; a little gamey; lengthy, dry finish that coats the mouth and won't let go.
This is a big wine that we really enjoyed paired with some Italian meatballs. It's a lot to stand on its own but for readers who like intense, bold wines, you'll quickly become a fan of Aglianico.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 92 points (a Costco Wine Top Pick)
Costco item number: 1351764
Availability: We buy our wine in Costco warehouses around the Atlanta area. The best way to locate wines near you is by using the new Costco mobile app and searching with the Costco item number we listed above.
Alc. 14%
Don Woods says
The inference about “and much less expensive” suggests that Costco has margined up on the price of this wine. In fact, President Trump has imposed 15% tariffs on all imported Italian wines. I just completed an on-line search for this exact bottle in Atlanta and lowest price was $44.99!
Matt says
I would love to see that D’Angelo Aglianico come back again......what a killer wine that was for $15, should've bought more at the time! But I'll be on the lookout for this one!
Maria Jette says
I’d never heard of this grape, but will now seek it out! I was intrigued by the name, and as I couldn’t quite imagine that it could have anything to do with “aglio” (garlic), went to its Wiki page—where I discovered that the etymology is a mystery…but the grape’s history is pretty astonishing:
“Oenologist Denis Dubourdieu has said “Aglianico is probably the grape with the longest consumer history of all,” claiming that Aglianico was used to make the Falernian wine famed during Roman times. Along with the white grape Greco (used to make the famous Greco di Tufo wine), the red grape of the region was regarded favorably by Pliny the Elder.”