Saturday, October 1, 2016

Welcoming Autumn with the Campanian Wines of Mastroberardino

This was my last week of maternity leave and I was fortunate to attend at least one wine event so far this fall at the Winebow's Vintner's Harvest wine tasting sampling over 50+ Italian wines in the Boston area. To say the least I was in heaven and could've spent all day there. 

This month's Italian Food, Wine and Travel (#ItalianFWT) group is celebrating fall in Italy, which leaves a lot open for interpretation. I wanted share with you today the wines of a very well respected producer in the region of Campania, Mastroberardino. As we travel into the cooler weather here in the Boston area I wanted to highlight the reds specifically of Mastroberardino as we start to warm ourselves up with sweaters, prepare our pots for soups and roasts and of course a glass of hearty red wines.

wine regions of Campania, Italy
Copyright of Federdoc

Established in the mid 18th century the ancient headquarters of Mastroberardino are located in the town of Atripada within Irpinia. Today the winery is led by Piero Mastroberardino whom is the 10th generation of the Mastroberardino family. Out of the 4 DOCG's of Campania, they are producing grapes in 3 of them including Taurasi, Greco di Tufo and Fiano di Avellino.

Mt. Vesuvius from Pompeii ruins
Mt. Vesuvius from within the ancient ruins of Pompeii
When I traveled to Pompeii years ago I came across some of the vineyards of Mastroberardino within the ancient ruins of Pompeii. Not knowing much at the time, I have come to learn these are the vines of Villa dei Misteri. This vines were established in the early 90's as a project between Mastroberardino and the Soprintendenza Archeologica of Pompeii. 

The aim of the project is to investigate methods and techniques of viticulture and winemaking in ancient Pompeii, as well as to reproduce important phases of the ancient process on experimental basis”, according to the winery. 
Mastroberardino Villa dei Misteri vineyards
If you've never traveled the ancient ruins of Pompeii it has always been one of my favorites. To witness how many aspects of ancient times are still in tact from artifacts, to paintings on the wall, humans solidified in ash, and carvings on the floors, it's astounding that they're growing vines on ancient soils there.


ancient artifacts of Pompeii
The 5 wines of Mastroberardino I sampled are:

  • 2009 Mastroberardino Campania Aglianico (Aglianico)
  • 2013 Mastroberardino Fiano di Avellino Radici (Fiano)
  • 2008 Mastroberardino Radici Taurasi (Aglianico)
  • 2014 Mastroberardino Campania Greco Maestro (Greco)
  • 2014 Mastroberardino Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio Rosso (Piedirosso)

Wines of Campania with Mastroberardino Villa dei Misteri
It was hard to just select one when I enjoyed almost all of them, but the one that stood out the most was the 2008 Mastroberardino Radici Taurasi. A runner up for it's value was the 2014 Mastroberardino Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio Rosso and for white the Fiano di Avellino is a pleasure. The grapes that make up these wines above: aglianico, giano, greco, piedirosso and others are some of the top indigenous wines of Campania.



The aglianico grape is the dominating red grape of Campania and peaks in the wines of Taurasi, named after the town of which it originates within the Avellino province. The 2008 Mastroberardino Radici Taurasi is made 100% from the aglianico grape, which is the top red of grape of Campania and Basilicata. This wine is a full bodied, complex wine that is well structured and rich in dark fruit. It's aged 2 years in French and Slavonian oak and an additional 2 years in the bottle. ABV 14%. SRP $67 (wine.com).



I'd love to dive deeper into the wines of Mastroberardino and even better tour the winery facilities upon my next venture over. Have you experienced these wines or any of these grapes and what were your thoughts on the wines of Campania?
Check out the rest of my fellow bloggers as they share their version of Fall in Italy.  If you're catching this in time you can join us for a live chat on Twitter Saturday October 1st @ 11am EST #ItalianFWT.  Join us next month on November 5th as we share "Unique Towns of Italy" via food, wine or travel. 

Mike from Undiscovered Italy writes about the Montefalco Vendemmia Festival
Martin from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog prepares Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant and 2013 Josetta Saffirio Barbera d’Alba #ItalianFWT
Gwendolyn from Wine Predator presents Easy Fall Fun Flavorful Food with Italian Wines from a Castle
Jeff from FoodWineClick gives us his Top 5 Reasons to Visit Piemonte in the Fall
Michelle from Rockin Red Blog is Celebrating Italian Harvest with #ItalianFWT
Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla makes Truffles, a Whole Fish, & Barolo


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