CAMPANIA PT. 1
We are going to talk about two white grapes from the Campania region in southern Italy, Fiano and Falanghina. These grapes are more renowned in the Campania region, but as with many grape varietals, can be found in other neighboring areas.
Just a reminder there are 20 different regions in Italy, and hundreds of grapes.
The region of Campania is beautiful with its vegetated hills, fertile soils and impressive coastline. Campania’s most famous city is Naples, birthplace of pizza.
The beautiful Amalfi Coast is a major attraction to the area. Those that have visited the area remark on how beautiful the Amalfi Coast is and get that “faraway look” in their eyes just thinking about it.
There is the beautiful city of Sorrento which is famous for its lemons and going inland is the city of Gragnano aka “City of Pasta” which is famous for excellent dried pasta.
Many say the best in the world for lemons and Limoncello, and the dried pasta.
Moving more inland will be the ruins of Pompeii and the extinct volcano Mount Vesuvius. I have written about the benefits of volcanic soil on grapevines, those attributes apply here in Campania.
Yet with so many opportunities to grow more vines and make more wine, the region only 7% of the farmland is grown to grape vines. According to the Italian Wine Guide, they import more wine than they export.
Perhaps the diversity of other crops creates a good balance for everyone.
The mountainous areas can be difficult to grow vines, but more new producers are coming into the area and are improving the quality and quantity of production in Campania.
Ruins of Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius
Falanghina-
Falanghina (fall-on-gee na) is lovely white wine that on the surface, can be stereotyped into a lot of Italian white wines.
There is crispness, bright acid, apple & pear flavors and citrus notes. Mostly medium-bodied, great citrus and floral aromas, and an easy smooth finish.
When freshly opened and chilled it starts out a bit average. Then when getting some oxygen and warms up some, you get layers of flavor and much more character.
If the wine gets any time in oak, it can have vanilla, caramel, and nutty nuances. Time in oak can also provide more structure and complexity.
Lots of possibilities of flavor profiles with this wine. The downside here is that we don't get much information on the label regarding the processes the wine went through, i.e. aging, oak use, or time on the lees for example. The DOC's don't seem to care either way and so no requirements there.
I feel Falanghina is not only fun to say, but also so pleasantly delicious. It's quite pleasing on hot afternoons too.
True to its Italian nature, the wine can be misleading on the onset and then each sip brings a different flavor to the forefront, yet balanced and complementary to the basic flavor profile.
The largest region for Falanghina is Falanghina del Sannio DOC. With about 3,000 acres planted in grapes, this produces an average of 483,000 cases of wine a year.
In this region, the Falanghina can be sweet or “passito” style which is done by drying out the grapes for some time. It can be sparkling or “spumante” or just regular dry and still.
The wines are generally low in alcohol, high in acidity and full of flavor!
There are no hard fast rules in the DOC for aging or the use of oak. This allows the producers quite a bit of leeway in how they want to make the wine.
The benefits of having the DOC designation are for authenticity of the source of the grapes, and the help in marketing and distribution of the wines.
I wrote about the DOC’s & DOCG’s in my article on the “Keys to Understanding Italian wine”. You can reference that article for more clarity on what and why there are DOC’s & DOCG’s.
You can check the library for links to that page.
This is a great alternative to Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, or Trebbiano.
Pricing on Falanghina will be random, depending on where it is from and how it was made. (Oak, aging, sparkling, etc.) I would say they start around $18.
FOOD PAIRING:
First and foremost, would be fish. Most anything out of the sea would work with Falanghina. Vegetable dishes, including pasta as well as most poultry should be great. A great starter wine with appetizers or just good conversation.
Fiano
Fiano is another great white grape grown primarily in southern Italy regions.
Campania is probably the most recognized of the regions with the Fiano di Avellino DOCG. There is some Fiano grown in Sicily and in Puglia as well.
Many Italians consider Fiano to be one of the great white varietals in all of Italy. I would agree on the great taste of the wines I have had.
It has the flavors of pears, apples, citrus & hazelnut aromas, and good minerality.
The different versions and styles of the wine depends on the use of oak, use of the lees (dead yeast) or the place where is it grown.
Oak can create more complexity in Fiano and the time with the (lees) can create creaminess in the wine. All the enhancements give the wine another layer of flavor.
It excels in volcanic soil which is why Campania, and particularly Fiano di Avellino DOCG, gets the highest phrase.
You might remember that Fiano di Avellino means the Fiano (grape) from (di) Avellino, (a place).
Fiano di Avelino DOCG has a little over 1000 acres to vines that produces about 185,000 cases of wine a year (avg.)
One of the larger producers in Campania is the Mastroberardino winery.
They make many wines from several different regions in different tiers and most of the main grapes, including Fiano.
Fiano wines are delicious and worth every penny spent on them. The wines start about $15 and go up according to the producer and the extra care to the wine with aging.
As with Falanghina, Fiano labels are not so informative about the processes of making that particular wine.
Hopefully, Campania wine regions will work towards providing more information about the wine on the label to help clarify why the wine tastes like it does.
This is one of the reasons some people don't drink Italian wine.
With language being a barrier already for English speaking people, basic information would be helpful to remove the mystery.
One thing to consider would be the price of the wine. The higher the price, there is probably oak involved and some aging too.
Food Pairings-
Can you guess what food would pair well with crisp, mineral, high acid wines?
Anything from the sea of course.
Fish, seafood, appetizers, poultry, vegetables, seafood pizzas, pasta primavera to name a few things.
A quick side bar here regarding Limoncello.
