The Wines of
Campania: Getting Better and Better

BY IAN D’AGATA | NOVEMBER 3,
2016

Campania’s white wines vie with those
of Alto Adige and Friuli Venezia Giulia for top spot on Italy’s list of quality
whites. And today’s reds from the region are increasingly removed from the old
southern Italian stereotype of unclean, overripe and high alcohol wines.&nbsp;





















One
of the most positive developments in Italy’s wine scene over the last 30 years
has been the total transformation of Campania. It is safe to say that
Campania’s wines have never been this good, and the improvements have been due
both to a plethora of new and exciting estates run by a passionate and
energetic new generation and, increasingly, to moneyed locals who are looking
to invest in the region’s wine economy. The presence of a number of outstanding,
world-class local grape varieties that grow practically nowhere else and a
better understanding of many of the region’s unique—often volcanic—terroirs have also played important
roles in the transformation of Campanian wine.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1478104355548-a+typical+Campanian+coast+vineyard+copy.jpg"> 

A typical Campanian coast vineyard

The Three Musketeers: Fiano, Greco and
Aglianico&nbsp;

For
those who don’t yet grasp the importance of native grapes, let me repeat for
the umpteenth time that Fiano was virtually extinct as recently as the 1950s. Is
that relevant, you ask. Well, suffice it to say that most experts agree that
Fiano is probably Italy’s single greatest native white grape variety, so losing
it would hardly have been a smart move. Not by chance, the cultivar is now
being studied and grown in places as far removed from Campania as California
and Australia. And yet, as recently as the late 1960s, Antonio Mastroberardino,
the man who saved Fiano, was still going on record as being unsure about
Fiano’s future survival.Fiano has conquered just about every
corner of Campania and is now increasingly planted in Sicily, Basilicata,
Puglia and Lazio. But it has become so popular that it has also been planted in
more northerly lands, such as Friuli Venezia Giulia. In warmer climates, Fiano
tends to produce smoky, fat wines redolent of ripe tropical fruits; by
contrast, at higher altitudes and in cooler environments the wines are steely,
lean and loaded with nectarine and green apple. In fact, differences can be so
striking that some experts have begun to hypothesize that producers may
actually be using two different varieties altogether, but there is as yet no
scientific evidence to back up this theory.Greco is the other famous white grape
of Campania. Not to be confused with Calabria’s Greco Bianco variety (the two
are unrelated varieties that share a similar name), Greco tends to give much
darker-colored, richer and more tannic wines than Fiano. With a little tasting
experience, it is virtually impossible to confuse wines made from these two
varieties. These two white grapes have taken Italy by storm over the last 30
years and are now found on restaurant wine lists and in wine shops everywhere.





























Campania’s
most important red variety is Aglianico,
which reaches its apogee of expression in Taurasi. It is my opinion that, in
terms of its ability to make seriously good wines, Aglianico is at a quality
level similar or close to that of Nebbiolo and Sangiovese. Unfortunately,
decades of dubious winemaking talent and poorly equipped cellars in Italy’s
south have sullied the reputation of this outstanding grape. However, one taste
of a great Aglianico, with its penetrating flinty notes of red and black cherry
and hints of camphor, minerals, licorice and violet, will immediately awaken
the senses to the variety’s inherent greatness (exactly the same thing can be
said of Sicily’s Nerello Mascalese, by the way). Although it performs well on
most types of soil, Aglianico does remarkably well in volcanic areas, of which
there is no shortage in Campania. Wines such as Aglianico del Taburno (or
Taburno Aglianico) and Aglianico di Taurasi (or Taurasi) are potentially some
of the country’s greatest reds; both the Taburno and Taurasi areas are extinct
volcanos. The fact that Aglianico wines can also age remarkably well only adds
to their mystique.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1478103927411-Tenuta+Sarno%27s+Fiano+vines+at+Candida-COVER.jpg"> 



















Tenuta Sarno's Fiano vines at Candida

Falanghina, Coda di Volpe Bianca and Other
Quickly Rising Outsiders

Falanghina has been one
of Italy’s biggest wine success stories of the last 30 years. It is yet another
of the almost countless examples of once-forgotten native grapes that had
approached extinction in the ‘70s and are now instead the source of highly
popular wines that are sold everywhere in Italy and abroad. In this case,
credit must go to Leonardo Mustilli for having brought Falanghina back to the
public’s attention at the beginning of the 1980s. The name Falanghina actually
refers to a group of grapes, of which two have been clearly identified, the
Falanghina Flegrea and the Falanghina Beneventana, but there are likely
additional varieties erroneously being called Falanghina. In any case, Flegrea and
Beneventana could not look any more different. The two varieties also make completely
different styles of wine, but pure monovariety Falanghina wines are hard to
come by so making comparisons is very difficult. In fact, most estates grow
both Falanghinas together in their vineyards, even though they ripen at
different times, and then blend the grapes to make their wines. Generally
speaking, Falanghinas exude aromas of herbs and menthol, and only cellar
wizardry, such as the use of specific industrial yeasts, can allow wines labeled
Falanghina to display explosive notes of tropical fruits (especially banana and
pineapple).&nbsp;Coda di Volpe Bianca is an
extremely high-quality variety that can give either much more mineral or fatter,
creamier wines rich in honey and ripe citrus notes. Still relatively little known
outside of Italy, wines made with Coda di Volpe Bianca by the likes of Vadiaperti
and La Rivolta rank among Italy’s best white wines, so it’s clear that the
variety offers immense potential.&nbsp;

























Last
but not least, Campania has many other noteworthy red and white grape varieties
that are beginning to be used to make monovariety wines. White grapes like Caprettone (typical of Vesuvius, where
many like to call it Coda di Volpe Bianca—but the two are different varieties),
Pallagrello Bianco, Asprinio Bianco, Fenile, Ginestra and the
aromatic Roviello (often called Grecomusc’, its name in local dialect) all
merit more attention from producers and the wine-loving public alike. Red
grapes like Sciascinoso, Pallagrello Nero, Casavecchia and Tintore di
Tramonti are undoubtedly high-quality varieties as well; Tintore di
Tramonti is already gaining a local cult following.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1478103951552-Falanghina+Flegrea+in+La+Sibilla%27s+Crunadelago++vineyard+copy.jpg"> 



















Falanghina Flegrea in La Sibilla's
Crunadelago vineyard

Good and Bad in Campania’s Wines



















For
the most part, Campanian wine is at a high point in its recent growth curve. My
only caveats are that too many wines remain overly rustic while others are overripe
and/or too high in alcohol. The latter style is a remnant of an archaic wine
culture, typical of times past when achieving superripe grapes and high alcohol
was all that mattered. Older farmers in Campania (and not just there) still
refer to a red wine as being especially successful when it reaches 15% alcohol
or more, not realizing that balance is the key and that high alcohol is no
longer the measure by which wines are judged to be superior. In fact, I find
that at many estates it is the lighter, often earlier-harvested, entry-level
Aglianico wines that show better balance and are far easier to drink and enjoy.
Last but not least, many Campanian estates only grow one or two grape varieties,
yet they still all seem to make Fiano, Greco, Falanghina and Aglianico wines. Caveat emptor: some of those wines are
made with purchased grapes, and almost all of them are far less interesting and
complex than the wine(s) the estate is best known for.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1478103970493-vineyards+at+colli+di+lapio+copy.jpg">Vineyards at Colli di Lapio

The 2015 Vintage&nbsp;

The
2015 vintage is generally characterized as a very warm overall, but spring
actually started cold and rainy, delaying budbreak and flowering by as much as
two weeks. The flowering was spread out over an especially long period—never a
good thing as this leads to berries of inconsistent ripeness and makes for more
work at harvest time. Temperatures picked up during the summer, which allowed the
growth cycle to catch up, so the harvest took place at more or less the usual
time of the year (Campania features many late-ripening varieties, so the
harvest can start as early as September but go on until November, depending on
the vintage).For
the most part, 2015 in Campania is a vintage of powerful red and white wines.
However, the latter are generally less perfumed than usual due to the heat of
the year. In my opinion, Greco fared best, generally speaking, among Campania’s
white wines. Piedirosso benefited from the heat and so most 2015 Piedirossos do
not show the green streaks that can make these wines tough going for many wine lovers,
while Aglianicos range from balanced and ageworthy to hopelessly overripe—but
still much less so than in other recent vintages, which I take as a hopeful
sign of a slow changing mindset.

















I
tasted all of the wines reviewed in this article at the estates and in Rome in
August, September and October. For notes on the 2014 and 2013 vintages in
Campania, please see my previous article on Campania’s wines published on <a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/campania-made-in-italy-sep-2015">Vinous in September
of 2015</a>.

You Might Also Enjoy

<a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/sardinia-on-a-roll-oct-2016">Sardinia on a
Roll</a>, Ian D’Agata, October 2016

<a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/abruzzo-and-molise-coming-of-age-aug-2016">Abruzzo and
Molise Coming of Age</a>, Ian D’Agata, August 2016

<a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/umbria-new-releases-jun-2016">Umbria – New
Releases</a>, Ian D’Agata, June 2016

<a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/campania-made-in-italy-sep-2015">Campania: Made in Italy</a>, Ian D’Agata,
September 2015

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