A celebrated blend of 80% Aglianico and 20% Piedirosso, the Galardi 2018 Terra di Lavoro (with 20,000 bottles released) is redolent of plum and dark cherry confit. There is a mature, baked quality to the fruit with background notes of white pepper and ample spice or vanilla from French oak. However, the wine is tannic and sharp in terms of mouthfeel, and you can't help but wonder if phenolic ripening was off in this vintage. It might just need to smooth out with more bottle age. Terra di Lavoro is always an important wine, but this vintage has some minor kinks.

An Italian icon, the Galardi 2017 Terra di Lavoro draws its fruit from 400 meters in altitude, where nighttime temperatures are cool. This makes all the difference in a hot vintage such as 2017. The wine is very nice in appearance and intensity, with lots of dark, savory fruit, tobacco and spice. You will also find some scorched earth in there if you dig a bit. This blend of 80% Aglianico and 20% Piedirosso was a release of 24,500 bottles.

Cabernet Sauvignon is not in the blend, but the aromas in the 2016 Terra di Lavoro are very similar to what you would get with that grape, with bright notes of green pepper corn with blackberry and exotic spice. The declared blend is 80% Aglianico and 20% Piedirosso. This is a balanced vintage with lots of depth, precision and density. This is a beautifully made wine. For sure, I am not the first to say that the wine is more characteristic of a house style, a Bordeaux-inspired house style, rather than a territorial expression of Campania. In truth, I'd say that this wine has feet in both those words. I recommend waiting at least five more years before drinking this vintage. Some 30,000 bottles were made.

The 2015 Terra di Lavoro is a blend of 80% Aglianico and 20% Piedirosso, although you most certainly get herbaceous or pyrazine-driven aromas of green spice and bitter coffee that recall the Cabernet family. Beyond those more pointedly aromatic components, the bouquet offers spice, sweet tobacco, blackberry fruit and dried cherry. The vines are now aged from 16 to 26 years old, and they are located at 450 meters above sea level in the volcanic soils of the extinct Roccamonfina volcano. This was a hot vintage that offers exuberant and opulent fruit, followed by structure and soft tannins. Some 30,000 bottles were produced.

The 2014 Terra di Lavoro is a seamless and well-integrated wine (made with Aglianico and Piedirosso with the first vintage released in 1994) that always sets the bar high for Campania wines and the volcanic Roccamonfina subzone. This vintage is a little flatter than most, but this should come as no surprise given the challenges of the growing season. The pedigree of the winemaking is evident, nonetheless, with seamless integration and a wide array of dark fruit and toasted aromas that evoke the rugged personality of this unique Terra di Lavoro, or "land of labor."