An Italian Name Worth Practicing

[lsanderson]

By ERIC ASIMIOV
Published: September 17, 2008

ALL right, class, summer vacation is long gone and school is well under way, but I’m forced to interrupt our curriculum for a quick review session.

Why is this? Because it’s come to my attention that a crucial word in the lexicon of Italian wines has fallen by the wayside.

That word is aglianico, which, just to be clear, is pronounced ah-lee-YAHN-ee-koh, and which is the name of the leading red grape of southern Italy.

Yet the entire category of aglianico wines seems to pass unnoticed by most people, which is a shame because they have so much pleasure to offer. More