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Cantina Giardino

Aglianico in Anfora Clown 2018

Price: $59.95
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Tasting notes

Twelve months of skin contact in terracotta amphora gives this wine a grip and mineral presence that distinguishes it sharply from barrel-aged Aglianico. The tannins are firm but fine-grained, and the fruit skews toward dried plum, tart cherry, and earthy tobacco rather than anything ripe or showy. It is a wine that opens slowly over hours in the glass.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Dried PlumTobaccoEarthBlack Cherry
  • Style: Dry, full-bodied red; 100% old-vine Aglianico; 90-100 year old vines; Campania IGP; no added sulfites
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Aglianico; organic; sandy-clay soils; Ariano Irpino, Avellino province; 450m elevation
  • Winemaking: 12-month fermentation and maceration in 200L terracotta amphora; indigenous yeasts; 12-month aging in large barrels; unfined, unfiltered, no added SO2
  • Serving: Serve at 64-68F; decant 1-2 hours; opens significantly over 3-4 hours in the glass
  • Pairing: Braised lamb, wild boar stew, aged Caciocavallo, Pecorino, mushroom pasta, lentil-based dishes
  • Similar To: For fans of structured, earthy southern Italian reds who want zero-intervention winemaking and amphora texture

The Clown Oenologue is 100% Aglianico sourced from vines 90 to 100 years old grown near Ariano Irpino in the northern reaches of Irpinia, Avellino province. The vineyard sits at 450 meters above sea level on sandy, clay soils and yields just 40 quintals per hectare. All farming is organic and all work in the vineyard is done by hand.

Vinification follows an unusual and demanding protocol: whole-cluster fermentation and maceration run for 12 months inside 200-liter terracotta amphorae using only indigenous yeasts, with no sulfur added at any point. The wine is then transferred to large barrels for a further 12 months of aging before bottling unfined and unfiltered.

The result is labeled under Campania IGP rather than a DOCG, giving Antonio and Daniela Di Gruttola the latitude to work outside the formal appellation rules. The amphora aging imparts a distinct mineral and textural quality not found in oak-only programs, while the year-long skin contact builds serious tannin and phenolic depth.

Production is tiny. The wine is bottled with no additions, meaning zero added sulfites, no fining agents, and no filtration. It is one of four distinct Aglianico interpretations made at Cantina Giardino, and the only one where both fermentation and maceration take place entirely in terracotta.

The wine's firm tannins and high acidity make it a natural match for braised or slow-roasted red meats, particularly lamb, wild boar, and beef. Aged hard cheeses such as Caciocavallo or Pecorino Bagnolese hold up well against its structure. Earthy preparations like mushroom-based pastas or lentil stews work equally well.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Full Body
Grapes:, Aglianico
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2018
Alcohol:, 13-14%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Campania
Appellation:, Campania IGP
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


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Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Cantina Giardino

Cantina Giardino was founded in Ariano Irpino in 2003 by Antonio and Daniela Di Gruttola, though informal winemaking experiments among a group of six friends began in the late 1990s in the garage of a local figure known as Professor Giardino, which gave the project its name. Antonio had trained in food technology and then specialized in viticulture and oenology in Piedmont. The commercial winery launched with a specific goal: locate and rescue old-vine parcels across Irpinia that local contadini could no longer afford to work, saving them from being uprooted to make way for higher-yielding international varieties.

Cantina Giardino currently manages approximately seven owned hectares spread across sixteen parcels throughout Avellino province, supplemented by long-term rental agreements of 15 to 20 years with growers who continue to tend their vines in the traditional manner. All parcels are farmed organically, with vineyard work done entirely by hand. Vine age is central to the project: many sites carry Aglianico, Fiano, Greco, and Coda di Volpe vines between 50 and 100 years old, planted at low density and trained in the traditional alberello or bush-vine style.

In the cellar, Antonio uses no selected yeasts, no temperature control, no fining, no filtration, and adds no sulfites. Fermentations are spontaneous and can run for months. Aging vessels range from terracotta and sandstone amphorae to large casks made from local chestnut and oak. Daniela handcrafts some of the terracotta vessels from clay taken directly from the vineyard soils. Each wine in the lineup represents a distinct approach to the same indigenous varieties, varying maceration length, vessel type, and aging time vintage by vintage based on the character of the fruit.

Wine region

Campania, Italy

Campania is a large southern Italian region extending from the Tyrrhenian coast inland to the Apennine mountains. The coastal zones have a classic Mediterranean climate, but the interior subzone of Irpinia, sitting in the province of Avellino, is distinctly continental: sunny summers, cold winters, wide day-to-night temperature swings, and elevations that regularly exceed 400 to 600 meters. These conditions produce late-ripening grapes with high acidity and strong aromatic concentration.

Irpinia holds three DOCGs: Taurasi for Aglianico-based reds, Fiano di Avellino for whites from the Fiano grape, and Greco di Tufo for whites from Greco. The soils across the zone combine volcanic deposits, calcareous clay, and sandstone, varying considerably by commune. Cantina Giardino's parcels in and around Ariano Irpino sit on sandy and clay soils at roughly 450 to 500 meters elevation. Producers working outside the DOCG rules, as Cantina Giardino does, bottle under the broader Campania IGP designation.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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