Posted by Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 10/18/2020

Campania Stories 2020: Most Notable Wines From the Preview Tasting

After months of delay caused by the Covid-19 lockdown, this year's Campania Stories edition took place on the first four days of September 2020 in Mec Paestum Hotel in the town of Paestum, an ancient Greek city on the coastal area of Magna Graecia. Campania Stories is an annual wine event that was conceptualized and organized by Miriade & Partners with the aim of presenting the new vintage of the wines produced in the Campania region and to highlight the wine producing zones of the region to the specialized Italian and international press. The event's main sponsor was Gruppo Acanfora Hotels & Resorts, supported by the Campania Region and with the collaboration of AIS Campania, Distretto Turistico Costa d'Amalfi and Aj54 - Agenzia di Viaggi.

  
Campania is a region with a variance of climatic conditions and extensive volcanic soil. Its indigenous grapes flourish exceptionally with the patchwork of diversity that they adapt to. It is a region of medium importance in Italy with regards to the quantitative production of wine, twenty six thousand hectares of which are being cultivated for viticulture.  

The Campania region has four DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita / (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin), the highest designation under the Italian wine law which are: Aglianico di Taburno, Fiano di Avellino, Taurasi and Greco di Tufo. There are a number of very interesting local grape varieties cultivated in the region like Code di Volpe, Asprinio, Fiano, Falanghina, Greco, Biancolella, and Pallagrello Bianco among the whites whereas the red varieties are Aglianico, Piedirosso and Pallagrello Nero. The white varieties like Greco and Fiano have great personalities and are capable of expressing diversity and complexity with interesting potential for evolution and aging, from fresh to more structured versions. It generally provides pleasant fruity notes of apple, white flowers, aromatic herbs, almonds and sometimes fresh sage.

Among the red varieties, Aglianico is the most prominent one. It has found its home in Campania after the Greeks took it with them in the 7th century. It is cultivated in many areas of the region and it gives diverse expressions according to the types of soil, the microclimate and the unique techniques of the oenologists. Aglianico is a full-bodied wine, can be quite tannic, fresh and generally has peppery aromas, black cherries and other dark mature fruits. Depending on its aging process, it can express interesting tertiary characteristics. It has a powerful and beautiful personailty that conveys Campania's particular terroir.

According to the Associazione Enologi Enotecnici Italiani, the 2019 climatic year had a mild winter with little rain marked by a historically atypical climate but increasingly recurrent in recent years. Spring had been cold and unbalanced, a circumstance that has slowed down the phenological phase of budding and the rains in April and May have also slowed down the vegetative growth and flowering. Summer had been hot and humid with very little rainfall. 2019 is a potentially important year, rich in pulp and enowed with solid sapid fiber and nervous in the best interpretation. The white wines are characterized by strong aromas of mountain and sea. On the palate they show greater fullness and complexity. The red wines exhibit intense color and olfactory profiles characterized by pleasant fruity and spicy notes while in the palate, there is a foreground of Mediterranean radiance.

In the recent tasting at Campania Stories wherein 143 white wines and 125 red wines were submitted by around 80 wine producers of Campania, here are the most notable ones:

White Wines: 

Colli di Lapio Fiano di Avellino Fiano di Avellino 2019 
Di Marzo Fiano di Avellino Fiano di Avellino 2019  
Bellaria Fiano di Avellino Gold 2018  
Feudi di San Gregorio Fiano di Avellino Pietracalda 2019  
I Favati Fiano di Avellino Pietramara 2019  
Borgodangelo Fiano di Avellino Borgodangelo 2019
 Tenuta Scuotto Fiano di Avellino Fiano di Avellino 2019
 Villa Raiano Fiano di Avellino Fiano di Avellino 2019  
Rocca del Principe Fiano di Avellino Fiano di Avellino 2018  
Di Marzo Fiano di Avellino Fiano di Avellino 2018  
Tenuta Sarno 1860 Fiano di Avellino Sarno 1860 Erre 2017
 Tenuta Scuotto Campania Fiano Oi Ni 2017
 Villa Raiano Greco di Tufo Greco di Tufo 2019  
Le Masciare Greco di Tufo Greco di Tufo 2019
 Ferrara Benito Greco di Tufo Vigna Cicogna 2019
 I Favati Greco di Tufo Terrantica 2019  
Tenuta Cavalier Pepe Greco di Tufo Nestor 2019
 Bambinuto Greco di Tufo Picolo 2018
 Donnachiara Greco di Tufo Aletheia 2018  
Fattoria La Rivolta Greco Sannio Greco Sannio 2019
 Tempa di Zoè Paestum Fiano Asterias 2019  
San Salvatore 1988 Paestum Fiano Pian di Stio 2019  

Red Wines: 
Agnanum Campi Flegrei Piedirosso 2019  
Agnanum Campi Flegrei Piedirosso Sabbia Vulcanica 2019  
Villa Matilde Avallone Falerno del Massico Rosso Falerno del Messico 2016
 Iennella Antonio Aglianico del Taburno Aglianico del Taburno 2017
Fontanavecchia Aglianico del Taburno Riserva Vigna Cataratte 2015  
Donnachiara Irpinia Aglianico Irpinia Aglianico 2017  
Barbot Stefania Irpinia Campi Taurasini Ion 2017  
Villa Raiano Irpinia Campi Taurasini Costa Baiano 2017  
Antico Castello Irpinia Aglianico Magis 2016  
Canonico e Santoli Irpinia Aglianico Hirpus 2015 
Tenuta Cavalier Pepe Irpinia Campi Taurasini Santo Stefano 2015
 Feudi Di San Gregorio Irpinia Aglianico Serpico 2014
 I Favati Irpinia Campi Taurasini Cretarossa 2013  
Di Prisco Taurasi Taurasi 2015  
Borgodangelo Taurasi Borgodangelo 2014 
Perillo Taurasi Taurasi 2010  
Montevetrano Campania Aglianico Core Rosso 2017