Aleatico is a highly regarded grape variety, primarily grown in Italy, but also found in areas of Australia and California. It is renowned for its role in the production of remarkably sweet, dessert wines with characteristics echoing the fragrance of roses, ripe cherries and lychee. Although it's reasonably obscure in the grand scheme of grape varieties, Aleatico boasts a rich history.
This black grape's lineage is traced back to the viticultural practices of ancient Greece. It then thrived charmingly well under the Mediterranean sun on the vine-clad slopes of Italy where it's primarily grown today. Its popularity rose further during the Roman Empire, thanks to Pliny the Elder. He admired its distinctive aroma, and thus, it was cultivated in large quantities and regarded with prestige.
The Aleatico grape is a small-berried vine, particularly susceptible to environmental conditions and prone to low-yielding. Therefore, the resultant wines tend to be more intense in flavour and aroma. It offers its growers a trade-off — the resilience needed to flourish under harsher weather conditions, in return for high maintenance and limited yields.
In the modern wine industry, Aleatico holds a significant position in the production of dessert wines in regions such as Puglia and Lazio in Italy. The resulting wines are typically ruby-red with high alcohol content, which when served chilled can be an idyllic treat for wine lovers. They display an indulgent spectrum of floral and fruit profiles from roses to often ripe cherries, dried figs and a hint of spices.
Moreover, Aleatico's distinct aroma and flavour profiles lend themselves perfectly to passito-style wines. This involves drying the harvested grapes on straw mats, concentrating the sugars and flavours to produce lusciously sweet, aromatic wines. In conclusion, Aleatico might not be as global as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, yet it truly makes a distinctive mark in the world of viticulture with its unique appeal.
Buy Aleatico wine below.
