Wines from Italy’s Volcanic Arc: Campania

BY ERIC GUIDO | JANUARY 04, 2022

The diversity of Italy’s wine regions is fascinating. You can’t compare north to south or east to west. You can’t write a vintage report for Tuscany and expect the same conditions for Umbria or Lazio. If you’re looking at grapes, you must compare both red and white due to the drastic differences in the growing seasons and harvest dates. The fact is that every region of Italy is incredibly unique, and if there’s one thing that sets Campania apart from all others, it’s the volcanic arc that forms its landscape and soils. Campania’s geography consists of 50% hills, 35% mountains and only 15% plains. Throughout the hills and up onto the lower slopes of both volcanos and mountains, we find the vineyards. These vines are growing at high elevations, from 400 to 600 meters and up, even when close to the sea, and the soils that we generalize as “volcanic” are a diverse mix of rocks, ash, sands, clays and minerals that have been deposited here over the course of many millennia. From Mount Roccamonfina on the northeastern coast of Caserta, to Mount Epomeo on the island of Ischia off the coast of Napoli, and the still-active Mount Vesuvius across the Gulf of Naples, which last erupted only in 1944, Campania is a land of volcanos. Now, add the various mountains that run down and along the Campanian Apennines, intersecting the region from top to bottom. Suddenly, the unique landscape of Campania becomes apparent. The grapes that grow in these landscapes are every bit as diverse.

The vineyards of Stefania Barbot overlooking Paternopoli.

A New Awakening

Before delving into the grapes, regions and styles, I want to make one very important point that was reinforced throughout the tastings that built this report: Campania is starting to open its eyes to a more modern outlook on farming and winemaking. Natural, sustainable, organic, biodynamic, biodiversity; these are all terms that I would seldom hear from a producer in Campania five years ago, but today they are spoken about regularly. That, along with the emergence of smaller, quality-minded producers, is beginning to change the landscape of the region. In many cases, these wineries have existed for over a decade, yet they are only now starting to be discovered and imported outside of Italy.

The ancient Aglianico vines of Guastaferro in Taurasi.

The Multifaceted Stylings of Aglianico

It’s amazing to consider that not so long ago, an article on Campania would be primarily focused on Taurasi, along with a few standout cult producers off the beaten path, and then delve into Fiano and beyond without even a mention of the absolutely amazing Aglianicos being produced throughout the region. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Taurasi and believe it to be one of the greatest wines in all of Italy, but the problem is threefold. First, a large percentage of Taurasi still suffers from an overuse of new oak and/or a stamp of dirty winemaking. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for the quality-driven and aspiring winemakers in the region to see their wines associated with the oak monsters and brett-laden expressions available on the market. The second problem is Taurasi’s extremely tannic personality. While collectors often associate aging with superior quality, it can take Taurasi much longer than even these enthusiasts are willing to wait to soften its aggressive tannins and bring them into balance with its heightened acidity. This leads to the third problem, which is the variable styles created by producers in an attempt to either make their Taurasi more appealing earlier in its life, or produce a classic style that takes over a decade after release to become approachable. To put this into context, from an official aging and release standpoint, a Taurasi must mature for at least a year in barrel and a total of three years before release, while the Riserva category increases this to four years total, with at least 18 months spent in barrel. Now, consider that out of the 40 bottles of “current release” Taurasi reviewed in this report, only two of them were from the 2018 vintage, only six from the 2017 vintage, and nine from the 2016 vintage. The reason is that producers are choosing to keep the wines longer in an attempt to release a more expressive and literally “easier to swallow” Taurasi, while still creating a wine that communicates importance. 

So how can you tell what you’ll get from one bottle to another, and how can we begin to talk about terroir? My best answer is to read the notes and producer profiles.