2012 Fiano di Avellino

This estate and Clelia Romano make the best Fiano di Avellinos, but the two sets of wines could hardly be more different. Located in Summonte at roughly 800 meters above sea level on largely gravel-and-clay soils, Marsella’s Fiano vines always give a highly smoky, large-scaled wine, whiles the wines around Lapio are more steely and lemony. Marsella was the first to release his wines for sale a year later than his neighbors, rightly believing that Fiano needs bottle age to show its best. Now a number of other estates have followed his lead. Marsella also makes a Falanghina and a Greco from purchased grapes but these wines are much less exciting than his benchmark Fiano.