Azienda Agricola Magnoni: Fine Wine from Il Cilento

The Azienda Magnoni is a small estate in the Cilento region, about 120 kilometers south of Naples; the land had long been belonged to the Magnoni family, but Salvatore didn't decided to work with it until about 12 years ago, when they were faced with the choice of selling or making wine.

The vineyard -- about 2 hectares; they also have olive groves -- is planted not far from the sea (though the opposing side of a valley hides it from view) at an elevation of about 300 meters, on prevalently clayey calcareous soils with a SSW exposure. It's mostly Aglianico, though there is a little Primitivo.


Azienda Agricola Magnoni Primalaterra Paestum IGT Aglianico 2009

This wine also contains about 15% Primitivo -- the Disciplinare allows it -- whose function is to make the wine more approachable. Deep pigeon blood ruby with violet rim. The bouquet is fairly rich, with red berry fruit supported by greenish accents, chalk, leaf tobacco, and spice, with some underlying plum from the Primitivo, and sunny acidity to provide balance. On the palate it's bright and fresh, with red fruit, a mix of berry fruit and plum, supported by warmth and some sandalwood spice that flows into a clean fresh berry fruit finish. Pleasant, and quite approachable though not lacking in complexity, with the Primitivo doing a nice job of smoothing and softening the Aglianico. They also drink it with shellfish, for example an impepata di cozze (mussels), and I can see why.
2 stars

Azienda Agricola Magnoni Primalaterra Paestum IGT Aglianico 2008

The previous vintage; it's deep pigeon blood ruby with cherry rim, and has a fairly intense bouquet with berry fruit supported by greenish leathery accents -- the Primitivo is a little more evident here -- and has some jammier accents too. Hasn't completely come together yet. On the palate it's quite harmonious, with red berry fruit supported by some prune fruit and by tannins that are smooth and glancing, and also by slight plum sweetness, with it all flowing into a clean bright berry fruit finish. Pleasant but needs a few more months to come together. A classic example of a slower to mature vintage.
2 stars

Azienda Agricola Magnoni Primalaterra Cilento DOC Aglianico 2009

Deep black cherry ruby with cherry rim. The bouquet is rich, with cherry fruit supported by some greenish vegetal accents; it's quite pleasant and also quite ripe, On the palate it's full, with rich cherry fruit supported by minerality and deft sandalwood laced tannins that flow into a clean fairly bright finish with tannic underpinning. I found it pleasant and quite approachable though a touch dry in the finish -- there is some new small wood -- though in the wines defense it is quite young, and also in a tasting situation. The same dryness will make it work well with succulent red meats, and it will reward those with the patience necessary to let it age for a year, or two, or more.
2 stars

A note: Salvatore's family also makes olive oil and runs a B&B that, to judge from the pictures on their site, would be a beautiful place for a getaway.

The Photo used here is lifted from Luciano Pignataro's very nice profile.

Garantito IGP: Pisciotto, Cilento - Rinaldo Merola's Trattoria Angiolina

This time Luciano Pignataro takes the stand:

Inns are dying; long live inns! Our daily lunch is quick, in some cases emerging from vending machines in our workplaces, and in others taken while standing at a bar. And then there are the Agriturismi people frequent because everything they offer is cheap, despite the fact that the food sometimes isn't worth even what little it costs.

In Naples were once a thousand inns, of which no more than a hundred survive. And out in the country they're going under too, one by one.

This is why when one comes across a real, traditional inn, one must go at once. Rinaldo is tall, blond, and blue-eyed, like his mother, who opened the inn not far from the train station in Pisciotta, in the heart of the Cilento region near Capo Palinuro; there's lots of Norman and Lombard blood in these parts, especially in hamlets that were long isolated.

The trattoria opened its doors 50 years ago, first to slake the hunger of the workers building the second track of the Tyrrhenian rail line, and then that of passersby. Tourism, which is reserved and aristocratic in these parts, has allowed the Trattoria Angelina to survive without sacrificing its identity in the slightest.

Here quality is called to compete with home cooking, mastery that transforms food into gastronomic artistry and restaurant portions! Spaghetti with menaica alici http://www.alicidimenaica.it/ (alici are close relatives of sardines), locally caught using the looser-woven nets of an ancient Greek technique that gives extraordinary results, because only the larger fish are caught, is biblical in its volume. And the Alici salad overflows the plate even if one orders a half-portion.

There are also new dishes, for example spectacular mussels and beans.

The Cilentean Sea displays a generosity rarely seen elsewhere: for 10 months out of the year there are fewer than 50,000 people along a hundred kilometers of coastline. The silence of the seasons is a prize for those who love this cuisine.

There is the daily catch, but above all two classic dishes. This first is ciualedda, prepared with the of the Mediterranean: hot peppers, eggplant, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and basil, all seasoned with oil from Pisciottane olives, harvested from huge, centuries-old trees -- there are about 600,000 olive trees Pisciotta, Ascesa, and the nearby towns. The other dish is cauraro, made with fava beans, alici, and wild fennel fronds.

The desserts are by Ivana, Rinaldo's wife.

At Angelina you will find the slow pleasant rhythms of the past, especially if you come in the off season.

30-40 Euros, and wines from Campania and Cilento.

Ristorante Angiolina
Via Passariello, 2
Pisciotta (SA)
Tel. 0974-973188
Closed Sunday evening and Monday
Vacation: November to Easter





Published Simultaneously by IGP, I Giovani Promettenti.

We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi