Elena Fucci is a young star of an appellation that is one of the last remaining frontiers of Italian winemaking. She is in Basilicata, a southern region wedged between Campania, Calabria and Puglia. The 16-acre family estate she has been running since 2000 is in the Aglianico del Vulture DOC, a traditional grape growing area surrounding Mount Vulture, an extinct volcano. Fucci’s grandfather purchased the vineyards in the 1960s, two generations of her family has grown up there. Like most vineyard owners in the region her family sold their grapes to big producers elsewhere keeping a small amount to make wine for the family. By the late 1990s the family was considering selling the property since it was assumed that Elena and her siblings would want careers away from Basilicata. But Elena convinced her parents to keep the vineyards and she earned a degree in viticulture and enology. The estate makes only one wine, called Titolo, which is 100% Aglianico. Gambero Rosso has awarded nearly every vintage of Titolo with the highest rating of 3 glasses. Wine Advocate has also rated all the Vintages in the low to mid-90s. Wine Advocate’s Italian wine reviewer wrote this: “I cannot exaggerate how impressed I am by her wines. Each one is a masterpiece in its own right and no wine scored below 90 points.”