The Women and Wines of Donnachiara

Campania is a region I’ve always enjoyed wines from and unfortunately a region I don’t drink enough of.  These are wines that should be relatively easy to access on the market.  Some of the most popular wines featured from this region include Taurasi made from the aglianico grape as well as Fiano di Avellino and Greco di Tufo.  You’ll probably also come across some falanghina as well.  Do some of these sound foreign to you?  Let’s check out a couple of them today featuring the Donnachiara winery of Montefalcione.   

The Winery 

The Donnachiara winery is located in the small town of Montefalcione, within the province of Avellino close to Naples.  A place near and dear to my heart, although I haven’t visited Avellino yet.  I have been to parts of Campania including Naples and the stunning Amalfi coast.  As I’ve mentioned before, my father’s side of the family hails from this region.  There are plenty of great wines coming out of this wonderful wine region. 

The vineyards of Donnachiara - Copyright of Donnachiara

The vineyards of Donnachiara have been in the family for 150 years, but the winery was only established in 2005. It is a small, women owned winery owned and managed by 5th generation Ilaria Petitto and her mother Chiara. Through my research of the winery Ilaria is very active in the industry and her passion shows.  I truly appreciate women that work in this business as it’s not easy.  The winery was named after Ilaria’s great-grandmother Chiara and for all that don’t know donna means woman.  Chiara saw the estate through two world wars, on her own as her husband, Antonio Petitto whom was Colonel doctor in the Italian Red Cross, was off to war.  

Ilaria Petitto - copyright of Donnachiara

Donnachiara only works with autochtonous grapes, native grape varietals.  For white grapes they produce greco di tufo, coda di volpe, falanghina and fiano di avellino.  All their red wines are produced from the aglianico grape in different styles including aglianico campania, Irpina Aglianico DOC, Taurasi and Taurasi riserva. 

The Grapes 

The wines featured today feature the greco and aglianico grapes, both DOCG designations in Campania.  Greco di Tufo gained its status in 2003 where wines must be produced with a minimum of 85% greco di tufo with an allowance of up to 15% of coda di volpe allowed.  Greco di Tufo is a respected white wine found in the Avellino province and is named after the town of Tufo, but also the type of rock in which it is grown produced from volcanic ash.  These wines are best suited to be produced in the volcanic hills of Avellino.    

Aglianico is one of my favorites and is found in both Campania and the nearby region of Basilicata.  For those of you that enjoy those full bodied, rustic wines, aglianico is for you.  It’s a wine full of body and character with high acidity and tannins.  It’s definitely a wine that can be aged for many years.  Taurasi is a wine that must be produced of at least 85% aglianico.  With the high tannins in these wines they do need some time to open up so if you’re looking for immediate gratification make sure to decant it.  It’s a shame that this wine is overlooked and not at the forefront of the market with some of the top players as it deserves.             

          

The Land  

The region of Campania is located in southern Italy bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea and touching multiple regions including Lazio, Molise, Puglia and Basilicata.  Originally colonized by the ancient Greeks and part of the Magna Grecia before the Romans dominated.  It was known as oenotria, the land of wine, and today is still known for the quality that is produced. 

Campania is mostly dominated by hills and mountains with a small percentage of plains.  What’s unique about this region is the presence of volcanic matter in the soils from Mount Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei that truly gives these wines the character that they are known for.  You’ll typically detect minerality and a “salty” character in the wines.           

The Wines 

2017 Donnachiara Greco di Tufo DOCG: I featured this wine as one of my Thanksgiving wine picks this past year.  It is made of 100% greco.  A dry and delicate wine filled with citrus, pears and pineapple.  Backed with good acidity, nice salinity and minerality rounding out with a lengthy finish.  ABV 13% SRP $20 

2013 Donnachiara Taurasi DOCG: Made of 100% aglianico this wine is sourced from their Torre le Nocelle vineyards.  It spends 12 months in french barrique and is refined in the bottle for another 2 years.  Ruby red in color with purple hues.  An intense, full nose of dark fruits (blackberries and plums) with hints of cocoa.  A dry, full-bodied wine with great structure and elegance.  ABV SRP $35

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*These wines were provided as samples, but opinions are my own and I was very happy to share these samplings today.

Campania's Volcanic Wines with Fratelli Urciuolo

This month for our ItalianFWT (Italian Food, Wine & Travel) monthly group is exploring volcanic wines and food or travel to the regions of Campania and Sicily (also volcanic wine producing regions). After hearing about this month's topic I immediately though southern Italy and more specifically Campania. Today I'm taking you to the region of Campania, which I've mentioned before is where my dad's side of the family is from. I have yet to go to his home town of Candida in the village of Avellino, but I will make it there some day. Especially since Avellino in particular makes some fantastic wines. I'm always intrigued by wines that are grown on volcanic soil and the characteristics that they impart into the wines.

Avellino is in a part of Campania known as Irpinia that is known for producing many of the DOCG wines of the region including Fiano, Greco di Tufo and Taurasi (made of aglianico). The fiano grape that I'm sharing today is also known as vitis apiana stemming from the word apia for bees known for it's sweetness that the bees are attracted to. Fiano is a grape known for it's aromatics and nuttiness, although I didn't pick up nutiness in my particular bottle that I'm sharing with you today, but it's beautiful bouquet showed lovely in the glass. I tasted the 2013 Fratelli Uriuolo Monte Faliesi Fiano di Avellino.

Wine map of Campania copyright of Federdoc

Fratelli Urciuolo began in 1996 by two brothers, Antonello and Ciro Uricuiolo. There was very good knowledge of what the soil was composed of as within the Uricuiolo family there had been generations that had planted chestnut trees and knew the soils well. There are traces of volcanic ash and clay within the soil of the land they own. Antonello's drive to go learn to become a winemaker at the university triggered him and his brother to make their father's dream of winemaking a reality.

The brothers produce about 50% of their own production that's hand harvested and the rest come from local growers. They are situated in the town of Forino about an hour south of Naples, but they have other vineyard sites as well. They started growing the fiano grape and have increased their production to include the other popular grapes of Campania: greco, falanghina and aglianico.

The 2013 Fratelli Urciuolo Monte Faliesi Fiano di Avellino DOCG is a straw color with a golden hue. On the nose are lemon, banana and minerals. It's a dry, medium to full bodied wine that has a creamy texture with good acidity and a little saltiness. It's a persistent and well-balanced wine that has the potential to age well. It retails about $20. This Fiano di Avellino has been awarded the Tre Bicchieri award a number of times as well as their Taurasi wines.

Have you tried the wines of Campania and have any favorites?

The #ItalianFWT Crew Presents...

• Scorched Terroir and Explosive Wines by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Irpinia is the New Tuscany by Feast on History
• Etna Rosso: Wine from the Slopes of an Active Volcano by FoodWineClick
• A Beginners Guide to Volcanic Wines by L'Occasion
• Soave Wine Erupting with Flavor by Rockin Red Blog
• Sicily's Scorched Earth Wines at Gambino Winery by TheWining Hour
• Crazy Good Wines on Mount Etna by Undiscovered Italy
• Campania Food & Wine ABC's: Favorites by Vineyard Adventures

Information sourced from Opici Wines.

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Exploring the Campania region with Fiano, Greco and Taurasi

This week I'm going to focus on the wines from Avellino in the Campania region of southwestern Italy.  You may also know this area and coast by way of the Gulf of Napoli or one of my favorites, the stunning Amalfi Coast.  If you haven’t been I strongly recommend adding it to your list next time you visit Italy.  I’m happy to share some of my pictures if you need convincing and you won’t need it much longer after that.  In the Boston area, where I live, there are many Italian immigrants that migrated here from Avellino, including my great grandparents on my father's side.  

I'm very proud of my Italian heritage.  Growing up in an Italian household with a mother that is an amazing cook has made me appreciate the wonderful traditions in the food that is celebrated throughout the regions in the country.  Living in Italy over 10 years ago made me appreciate the wonderful wines that this country can produce and has brought me back there time and time again. 

The Campania region, in particular Avellino, is known for their whites including Greco, Fiano and Falanghina.  You can visit one my earlier blogs here about a Falanghina from one of the top producers from this region, Feudi di San Gregorio.  The top red wine in this region is Taurasi made from the Aglianico grape.  They produce other whites as well such as Coda di Volpe that is typically blended in and reds like Piedirasso and Sciascinoso, but today I’m going to focus on the primary grapes of this region.  . 

Greco grape
Greco is typically the lightest of the whites and is crisp and dry with notes at times of almond and lemon.  You can find it listed as Greco di Tufo DOCG from the Avellino area if it qualifies for that status, but you can also locate Greco in other parts of Italy.  Both Greco and Fiano were granted the ability to use the DOCG status in 2003.  The soils of this area can be minerally since there are remnants of the lava and volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius. 

Fiano grape
Fiano has more intensity than Greco and is more aromatic with hints of honey mostly.  In Avellino you can find it also under the DOCG designation known as Fiano di Avellino DOCG if it meets the requirements, which is a minimum of 85% of Fianco.  I’ll speak more in depth about this grape on my next blog after the tasting.

Aglianico grape
Taurasi is your most popular red in the Campania region, which is primarily made up of Aglianico.  Mastroberardino was the original classic producer of Aglianico, but it has become much more widespread now due to its recognition in the wine world and now many other producers are growing this grape.  It’s a rich wine with tannins, hints of smoke and leather.  Aglianico also is known to come from the Basilicata area, known as Aglianico del Vulture.  They were also granted DOCG status further back in 1993 and their wines also must be a minimum of 85% Aglianico with a blend of other grapes like Barbera, Piedirasso or Sangiovese.  To be granted DOCG status they must age the wines 3 years with at least 1 of those years in wood and to be named a Riserva it requires 4 years with 18 months in oak.

Aglianico grapes

Tomorrow I’ll be attending an Italian wine tasting where I’ll be sampling a Fiano from Casa di Baal, along with some other wines from the Piedmont region, which will tie in nicely with what I have been covering lately so make sure to come back over the next couple days.  

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