I’m a member of the Dutch affiliation of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and after the nice wine journeys with the affiliation to Piemonte, Lombardia, and Australia, I’ve now organized a visit to Campania in Italy as a member of the journey committee of the VVN, with Fred Nijhuis as our information.
Campania is a area within the South of Italy, with Naples as its capital. Campania has:
- 4 DOCGs: Taurasi, Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino, Aglianico del Taburno;
- 15 DOCs: Ischia, Capri, Vesuvio, Cilento, Falerno del Massico, Castel San Lorenzo, Aversa, Penisola Sorrentina, Campi Flegrei, Costa d’Amalfi, Galluccio, Sannio, Irpinia, Casavecchia di Pontelatone, Falanghina del Sannio;
- 10 IGTs: Colli di Salerno, Dugenta, Epomeo, Paestum, Pompeiano, Roccamonfina, Beneventano, Terre del Volturno, Campania, Catalanesca del Monte Somma.
Throughout this journey we are going to go to all the DOCGs and a big portion of the DOCs and IGTs. Our tour was supposed to start out with a go to to Villa Matilde and the Vitica consortium of wines from the province of Caserta, however as a result of our aircraft had a really lengthy delay of greater than 3 hours, we sadly needed to cancel that a part of our tour.
Hostaria Manfredi, Atripalda
That is why this account of our tour begins with an improvised dinner at Hosteria Manfredi in our lodge in Atripaldi, reasonably than telling you about Villa Matilde and the wines of the Caserta province. I messaged with the lodge supervisor to rearrange this dinner whereas we had been ready for our flight to go away on the tarmac at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. You possibly can’t simply present up unannounced for dinner with a gaggle of 15.
In fact there needed to be wine. We selected wines from producers that we weren’t going to go to on the tour. These are the wines we loved:
- Caggiano Campania Falanghina IGT 2022: properly fruity
- Caggiano Béchar Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2022
- Caggiano Devon Greco di Tufo DOCG 2023: properly structured
- Benito Ferrara Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG: extremely fragrant
- Sertura Irpinia Rosata DOC (Aglianico): full-bodied rosé that was pairing for the pasta with zucchini pesto
- Caggiano Vigna Macchia Dei Goti Taurasi DOCG 2019: good fruit and tannins, and pairing for the meat tagliata
As antipasti we had varied salumi and cheeses, mortadella with ricotta and pistachios, and tomato bruschetta. The primo was fusilloni pasta with a zucchini pesto and zucchini flowers, sprinkled with chopped pistachios. The secondo was beef tagliata with rucola, cherry tomatoes, and grana cheese.
Consorzio Sannio
The entire province of Benevento can also be the wine area Sannio. We had been obtained by Nicola Matarazzo, director of the Sannio Consorzio Tutela Vini. As Mr Matarazzo offered in Italian, I translated all the things into Dutch for the group.
Wines with the denomination Falanghina del Sannio DOC, Sannio DOC, or Benevento IGT could be produced wherever within the province. Aglianico del Taburno can solely be produced in a particular zone. Sannio DOC has some subzones like Sant’Agata dei Goti, which is talked about on the label if a wine is produced in such a subzone. There are 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of vineyards in Sannio, and 100 wineries. The province of Benevento produces half of all of the wine of Campania. The principle grape forms of Sannio are Falanghina for white and Aglianico for crimson, however there are additionally different grape varieties like Sommarello, Piedirosso, Sciascinoso, Agostinella, Cerreto, Coda di Volpe, Greco, Malvasia, Fiano, Passolara di San Bartolomeo, Olivella, Carminiello, Palombina, and Moscato di Baselice. The terroir is created by mountains to the south and to the north that trigger a sure movement of air, hills and slopes, giant temperature variations, and many various soil varieties. The vineyards are round 400 meters above sea stage.
95% of all Falanghina produced in Italy, is produced in Campania, and 80% of that in Benevento. There are literally two grape varieties which can be genetically totally different, however each known as Falanghina: Benevento and Flegrea. In Sannio it’s principally the Benevento. Of their youth the wines have aromas of banana, apple, lemon blossoms, and eucalyptus. Falanghina can age very properly and can develop notes of clove, pineapple, pine needles, and saltiness. The primary bottle of varietal Falanghina was bought in 1979 by Mustilli, a vineyard that we visited in a while the identical day. Now 6 million bottles of Falanghina del Sannio are bought yearly.
After the presentation we tasted a number of wines from Sannio:
- Fontanavecchia, Nudo Eroico (glowing Falanghina made with the Charmet technique, further dry): mineral notes and grapefruit
- Vigne di Malies, Auspicio Falanghina Metodo Classico Brut Nature (aged 36 months on the lees): toasted almonds, pineapple, contemporary, full physique, fantastic mousse
- Aia dei Colombi Falanghina del Sannio DOC 2022 (aged sur lie with battonage): creamy and complicated
- Cantine Tora, Kissòs Falanghina del Sannio DOC 2017 (sluggish chilly fermentation and aged sur lie): golden coloration, aroma of pine needles, full bodied and creamy, complicated and balanced, lengthy end.
- Barbera del Sannio DOC 2021 (100% Camaiola): very fruity, excessive acidity (from the hills at 300-500 meters above sea stage)
- La Vinicola del Titerno Barbera del Sannio 2020 (100% Camaiola): extra tannic, some herbaceous notes (from the valley, alluvial soil)
- Antica Masseria ‘A canc’llera, Eribiano Agostinella Passito 2019 (ripens in August, is then left on the vines to dry out till the harvest in October, after which dried in a shed for an extra 6 weeks): contemporary, not very candy, balanced, complicated
There have been two grape varieties that I had not tasted earlier than: Camaiola and Agostinella. What is called Barbera in Sannio is just not truly Barbera as we all know it from Piemonte, however a very totally different grape selection known as Camaiola. This has solely been found just lately. The bureaucratic course of has been began to formally change the identify, so it may be placed on the label as Camaiola as an alternative of Barbera.
We additionally loved some contemporary buffalo mozzarella from Campania (Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP). Mr Matarazzo defined which you can acknowledge contemporary buffalo mozzarella by the feel, which shouldn’t be grainy and have some irregularities as you may see within the picture, and must be elastic. Additionally, the pores and skin on the surface mustn’t come off simply. Buffalo mozzarella ought to NOT be saved within the fridge, and it’s perfect to eat it 8 hours after it has been produced (not sooner, not later). The aromas are of butter and milk. It pairs properly with Falanghina.
Fontanavecchia
Fontanavecchia is a family-owned vineyard within the Sannio space. There are at the moment three generations of the Rillo household working on the vineyard. Libero is the pinnacle of the vineyard and in addition president of the consorzio. His father Orazio continues to be the cellar grasp. They produce about 200,000 bottles per 12 months.
Libero gave us a tour of the vineyard, with me translating from Italian into Dutch once more. We tasted the oak-aged Falanghina and Aglianico del Taburno immediately from the barrel.
Fontanavecchia is positioned close to the village of Torrecuso and was established within the nineteenth century. However the Rillo household has been making wine right here for over 600 years.
These are the wines we tasted:
- Falanghina del Sannio DOC 2023 (40% of the manufacturing of the vineyard, made in chrome steel): fruity and contemporary however with construction and physique
- Libero Falanghina del Sannio Vendemmia Tardiva DOC 2019 (late harvest, 20% 9 months of French oak on the lees with stirring, 80% in chrome steel, can age for 20 years): creamy, complicated, balanced, fragrant, good oak, however nonetheless a bit current (wants extra time within the bottle)
- Coda di Volpe 2023 (made in chrome steel): salty, mild acidity
- TabaRosa 2023 Aglianico del Taburno DOCG Rosé: contemporary, balanced, within the type of Provence
- Aglianico del Taburno DOCG 2019: current acidity, full bodied, tender tannins
- Vigna Cataratta Aglianico del Taburno Riserva DOCG 2018 (single winery, 14 months French oak, 3 years bottle): tender however current tannins, some minty aromas
We tasted the wines over a really good lunch, ready by Rillo’s mom. It included varied antipasti together with Parmigiano di Melanzane, a vegetable frittata, and ciambotta, which on this case was a mash of beans with inexperienced leavy greens. This was adopted by a primo of pasta e fagioli, pasta with beans in vegetable broth. The primo paired very properly with the rosé.
Terre Stregate
Our subsequent go to in Sannio was to Terre Stregate. Additionally a household enterprise, began in 1898 by Filippo Iacobucci. Filomena, the daughter of present fifth era proprietor Carlo, gave us a passionate presentation of the wines. The identify of the vineyard means “bewitched lands”, and refers to native legends about witches. They’ve 25 hectares (60 acres) of vineyards, with principally Falanghina and Aglianico. The Falanghina is produced in 4 variations: nonetheless, glowing, late harvest, and passito. In addition they produce olive oil.
The wines we tasted right here had been:
- Caracara 2019, Falanghina IGP Beneventano (single winery with vines of 30+ years previous, not declared as Falanghina del Sannio DOC as a result of they aren’t positive in regards to the proportion of Falanghina within the winery, late harvest on the finish of October, low yield, aged for 3 to 4 months in used barriques, solely 2000 bottles produced): fragrant, elegant, creamy, mineral, lovely fruit, contemporary for its age.
- Costa del Duca 2016, Aglianico IGP Beneventano (once more not because the DOC as a result of there may be additionally some Sciacinoso within the winery, 6 months in used oak and cherry barriques, not produced each classic, solely 1800 bottles produced): darkish cherries, tender tannins.
- Malaca 2019 Passito del Falanghina (60% weight reduction from drying the grapes, very sluggish fermentation due to the excessive sugar content material of essentially the most): tender and never too candy, some eucalyptus aromas.
Mustilli
We ended our tour of Sannio with Mustilli within the subzone Sant’Agata dei Goti. We had been obtained within the historic cellar (constructed within the fifteenth century) of the vineyard by present proprietor Paola Mustilli. Mustilli is a small vineyard that produces solely 80,000 bottles per 12 months of Falanghina and Greco (white), Piedirosso and Aglianico (crimson).
Her father recognized 18 totally different autochtonous varieties within the Nineteen Sixties. He used them to make wines in a tiny manufacturing and tasted them. He determined to plant Falanghina and bought the primary bottle in 1979. Now thousands and thousands of bottles of Falanghina del Sannio are bought yearly (of which solely a really small proportion by Mustilli).
In 2002 Mustilli moved the manufacturing from the historic cellar to a contemporary vineyard. They saved the historic cellar as a type of museum, which we visited.
We tasted the next wines:
- Vigna Segreta Falanghina del Sannio Sant’Agata dei Goti DOC (Falanghina Beneventano on clay and limestone soil, mass choice, made in chrome steel and aged for 9 months on the lees with stirring):
- 2022: contemporary and crispy
- 2019: creamy, lovely aroma, my favourite
- 2017: crispy and balanced
- Artus Piedirosso del Sannio Sant’Agata dei Goti DOC 2019 (10 months in amphora, solely 12% alcohol): espresso, tannins, contemporary
- Cesco di Nece Aglianico del Sannio Sant’Agata dei Goti DOC 2017 (single winery, 12 months in French oak): structured, contemporary, medium bodied.
We tasted the wines over dinner, which consisted of varied antipasti (soppressata, pecorino, focaccia, rice and lemon zest croquette, eggplant croquette), handmade pasta with contemporary tomato sauce and eggplant, and apple tart.
On the quick stroll again from the vineyard to the bus, we had an exquisite view of the historic city of Sant’Agata dei Goti to finish our go to to Sannio.
