| Type | Red |
|---|---|
| Appellation | Aglianico DOP Cilento |
| Grapes | 100% Aglianico |
| Soil | Rocky, clayey |
| Vinification | Maceration in oak barrel with skins approx. 20 days at 24-28°C |
| Serving temp. | 16-18°C |
| Ageing | 24 months large Slovenian oak barrel + 12 months bottle |
| Longevity | Long |
| Food pairing | Game; aged cheeses; braised red meats; the finest preparations of southern Italian cuisine |
Futos is the summit wine of the Etel estate — the Aglianico DOP Cilento that represents the most ambitious and most considered expression of what this great southern Italian grape can achieve in the specific conditions of Alto Cilento. It is a wine of genuine magnitude: produced from the same organic Aglianico vines as Maricinè but given an entirely different treatment — maceration in oak barrel with the skins at controlled temperature, followed by 24 months in large Slovenian oak barrel and 12 months in bottle before release.
The name carries the Greek-influenced resonance of the Cilento territory — where the legends of Ulysses and the ancient Greek navigators of the Tyrrhenian coast are woven into the landscape — and the wine itself carries the weight of genuine ambition. The decision to macerate in oak barrel rather than stainless steel is significant: it introduces a very gentle oxidative element to the skin contact phase that integrates the tannins differently from the stainless approach and begins the wine's relationship with oak at the earliest possible stage.
The 24 months in large Slovenian oak barrel that follow represent a commitment to the long-ageing, large-vessel tradition of southern Italian winemaking — a tradition in which the wine is not shaped by the wood but refined by it, emerging with its fruit and mineral character intact but its structure polished and integrated to a degree that the grape's natural power alone cannot achieve. The 12 months in bottle before release ensure that the wine arrives in the best possible state of integration.
The resulting wine is among the most structurally ambitious in the UniqueWines portfolio — a wine of the long game, intended for the cellar as much as for immediate consumption, carrying the firm tannins and sustaining acidity of great Aglianico combined with the mineral precision that the rocky Cilento slopes at altitude consistently deliver. Serve at 16 to 18 degrees Celsius in a Burgundy-type dark green bottle — the vessel itself signalling the seriousness of what is contained.
Available through UniqueWines. Long longevity.
