The Lacryma Christi Wines of Vesuvio

Campania, a region in Southern Italy, has deep roots in ancient winemaking and viticultural practices influenced strongly by the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans.  Campania served as a center of the Magna Grecia, “Great Greece”, which were colonies of the Greeks in southern Italy.  They were very instrumental in the development of agriculture and viticulture for the fertile lands of the area.   

Aristotle wrote of vineyards being planted in Campania since 5 B.C.  One of the more important wines to note coming out of the Campania wine region are those known as Lacryma Christi.  The name translates to “tears of Christ”, which hold many legends with one of the most common being that God shed tears when Lucifer stole a piece of heaven.   

The wines of Lacryma Christi are a sub-designation under the Vesuvio DOC created in 1983, although these wines have been grown here for centuries.  The Vesuvio DOC is made up of over 100 producers with vineyards located on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius, an active volcano located right off the Bay of Naples.  As you’re probably aware, Mt. Vesuvius is famous for the eruption of 79 A.D. when it destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Ercolano.  According to the Vesurvio DOP Consorzio, "the area under vine is 391 hectares with over half (52%) of the vineyard area declared a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) for the production of the Vesurvio DOC and Lacryma Christi DOC wines".

Copyright of Vesuvio DOP Consorzio

As you can image the vineyards located on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius are quite unique as the vines are rooted in deep layers of volcanic lava.  Lacryma Christi wines follow stricter regulations that those of the greater DOC.  There are many styles of Lacryma Christi wines including a Lacryma Christi Rosso, Bianco, Rosato, passito, liquoroso and spumante.  The most common are the Lacryma Christi Rosso and Bianco.   

My visit to Pompeii in 2007 with a view of Mt. Vesuvius 

The primary grape of the Lacryma Christi Rosso is the piedirosso grape, translating to “red foot”, due to the stem becoming red during the ripening process.  This is an important native grape of Campania and lends ripe fruit and softness to the wines.  The rosso may also be blended with aglianico and sciascinoso. 

For the Lacryma Christi Bianco wines the grape coda di volpe leads the charge.  A grape exclusively found in Campania, coda di volpe translates to “white foxtail” that describes the shape of the grape cluster that develops.  This grape can also be blended with verdeca, falanghina and greco. 

In recent decades the producers have advanced winemaking practices and increased the overall quality of wines being developed in this region.  Mastroberadino is one of the most famed producers of this region for producing high quality wines along with Feudi di San Gregorio and others. 

If you catch us in time we are chatting live on Twitter at 11am EST at #ItalianFWT.  Hope to see you there!  Check out the following posts from my fellow food and wine lovers.

• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares "Melanzanea Scarpone + Cantine Astroni Gragnano Penisola Sorrentina 2018"
  
  
  Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farmposts "Polpetteand Terredora di Paolo Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio Rosso"
  
  
  David at Cooking Chat shares “Salmon with Pestoand Orzo with Wine from Campania"
  
  
  Pinny at  Chinese Food and Wine Pairings adds  "Campania’sDonnachiara Greco di Tufo Paired with Fish and Chips #ItalianFWT”
  
  
  Gwendolyn at Wine Predator shares "3Wines from Campania’s Feudi Di San Gregorio paired with pizza and wild boarragu”
  
  
  Cindy at Grape Experiences writes “Exclusiveto Campania: Coda di Volpe Bianco, the Tail of the Fox”
  
  
  Linda at My Full Wine Glass posts “ACoda di Volpe wine from Campania’s protector of native grapes (#ItalianFWT)”
  
  
  Terri at Our Good Life  “ChickenPot Pie and A Beautiful Wine from Campania for a Spring Day”
  
  
  Katarina at Grapevine Adventures muses “Campania Makes You Dream Big About Amazing Wine”
  
  
  Nicole at Somm's Table dishes on "Donnachiara Taurasi and Lamb Spezzatino”
  
  
  Jeff at Food Wine Click! writes about "ViniAlois: Champions of Campania's Native Grapes"
  
  
  Rupal at Syrah Queen brings “NYC Somm Jordan SalcitoMaking A Splash With Campania Wines"
  
  
  Lauren at The Swirling Dervish adds “MastroberardinoGreco di Tufo: White Wine from Campania's Volcanic Arch"
  
  
  Lynn from Savor the Harvest shares "Italy- Organic Wine and Rare Grapes In Campania #ItalianFWT"
  
  
  Susannah at Avvinare presents “Taking Another Look At Falanghinafrom Campania"

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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.

Copyright of Federdoc

Established in the mid 18^th 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 10^th 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 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. 

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.

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)

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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