Campania Stories 2025: Part One Buyer’s Guide White Wines
By John Szabo, MS
The 14th edition of Campania Stories, the annual preview tasting of new vintages from all regions in Campania, Italy, unfolded this year in Ercolano (Herculaneum) on the western slopes of Vesuvius, just outside of Napoli.
View from Ischia ©John Szabo
I spent a week this past May tasting and touring in the region to get the beat on the latest releases, and was, again, mightily impressed with what I tasted. There are plenty of wines to recommended out of 200 samples tasted, with more than a handful in the outstanding, 95+ point category. And if you’re looking for a vacation spot, I can’t recommend Campania highly enough, not just for wines, but also some of Italy’s finest foods and spectacular scenery.
Known to the Romans as “Campania felix”, or “happy country”, the region has, for at least two thousand years, produced some of the finest wines on the Italian Peninsula, and is still today one of Italy’s richest regions in terms of native grape varieties, especially the most diverse range of first-class white grape varieties.
See the Part Two Buyer’s Guide to Red and Rosato
Jump to the Category:
Ischia Whites
Campi Flegrei Whites
Irpinia Fiano
Irpinia Greco
Other White Varieties & White Blends
It’s particularly “felix” for the fertility of the land, renewed and enriched repeatedly across the millennia thanks to the still-active volcanoes of Vesuvius and the Campi Flegrei, or “Fields of Fire” on the northern side of Napoli around the bay of Pozzuoli, including the islands of Procida and Ischia.
Not just myriad grapes, but other gastronomic riches are born here, such as the famously sweet cherry tomatoes grown on the slopes of Vesuvius, which have their own protected denomination of origin, the Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio DOP. The ancient practice of “piennolo” preservation involves hanging bunches of the ripe tomatoes in ventilated rooms until the end of winter, during which time they take on a unique and delicious flavor, which Neapolitans particularly appreciate for preparing sauces.
Other notable agricultural products in this land of incredible biodiversity include the Albicocca Vesuviana, apricots from Vesuvius, and the “Centogiorni” pea, or “100-day pea”, cultivated in the Vesuvius area for at least a century. Its name refers to the average length of the pea’s production cycle, grown in open fields, often intercropped with fruit trees like apricots and cherries. They star in the typically Neapolitan soup of pasta and peas, in which the peas are cooked with onion and pancetta before the addition of little tubes of pasta.
And then there’s Amalfi lemons, walnuts of the Sorrento Peninsula, sweet Neapolitan pappacella peppers, heirloom garlic from the Ufita Valley in the Irpinian Appennines, artichokes from the medieval village of Pietrelcina in Benevento, and I could go on… Suffice to say Campania is one of my favorite places in Italy to eat, and that in a country where competition is particularly stiff.
The five provinces of Campania
But my journey as usual was focused on wines, in this case mostly the 2024 and 2023 vintages. 2024 was described as rather heterogenous across the region, with generally low rainfall, apart from Ischia. Andrea d’Ambra describes it as, “a fairly ‘normal’ year, slightly rainy but that’s a good thing on Ischia”.
Budbreak arrived nearly two weeks across the region early thanks to warm spring temperatures and March rains. During the summer heat spikes slowed phenolic maturation in some areas as vines shut down, especially white varieties, and considerable water was lost to evaporation and resulted in low bunch weights/reduced yields. Aromatics were saved by wide daytime-nighttime temperature shifts of over a dozen degrees, and in the end, the whites were less opulent, but aromatically interesting and varied, and fresh. “Nulla da dire, una bellissima annata”, says owner-winemaker Gabriella Ferrara of Benito Ferrara in the Greco di Tufo appellation of the 2024 vintage. “There’s nothing to say, a beautiful vintage.”
2023 will go down as a famously disastrous year in which when the south of Italy suffered from hitherto unseen downy mildew pressure. Yields were down massively as a result, but downy affects quantity more than quality (affected berries dry up and fall of the bunches).
Campania is one shining exception that avoided the worst of the unusual weather. The region’s low vineyard density, huge natural biodiversity and mountainous terrain make it particularly resilient to such blights compared to other regions where vineyard monocultures are more prevalent. And while I give a slight edge to the whites of 2024 at this stage, there are many excellent 2023 Campanian whites to track down and enjoy.
New Discoveries
One fine new discovery for me was the wines of Cantina Antonio Mazzella on the Island of Ischia. Established in 1940 By Nicola Mazzella, the estate passed into the hands of Antonio before third generation Nicola Mazzella took over. He now counts 10ha of indigenous varieties on the southeast corner of the island facing Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, including 4.5 hectares of recreated terraced vineyards that required heroic labour to create, managing just one hectare per year – everything, as you can imagine on this small island requires hand labour or small machinery to complete.
Nicola Mazzella on Ischia with Càpri in the distance. ©John Szabo
The soils in this sector are pure pumice, unlike the green tufo that covers the rest of the island, on which Mazzella produces 80% white wines from mainly the fine biancolella variety, and the slightly more rustic forastera. Of particular note is the Vigna del Lume Biancolella, Nicola Mazzella’s 3.5ha single vineyard cru of 30-50 year old-vines, with the lowest terraces just 20m above the sea in a sort of protected canyon; access is via a single narrow path and the harvest is ludicrously difficult – it takes three days to harvest the small parcel, with grapes brought by motorized ‘wheelbarrows’ to a central point where they are crushed right in the vineyard, and from there the must is run by hose to plastic vessels on an awaiting small boat, which brings the must to the port and then from there it’s brought up to the winery. “Heroic’ winemaking seems an understatement, but the wine I can tell you is worth the effort.
Other memorable visits made to La Sibilla in the Campi Flegrei, where brothers Mattía and Vincenzo di Meo are crafting some of the region’s best from 10 hectares of ungrafted vines currently in production overlooking Lake Fusaro, sitting atop Roman ruins. “We can’t more than 30m before finding more ruins”, quips di Meo. “We are constantly calling the archeologists.” This statement brings to mind one of the funniest quotes I’ve heard from a Neapolitan comic, who, when commenting on the seemingly never-ending, 30+ year construction project to build the metro system in Napoli, with its constant delays due to uncovering some ancient archeological artefacts, wondered, “I’m not sure if they’re building it, or looking for it.”
Brothers Mattía and Vincenzo of La Sibilla, Campi Flegrei ©John Szabo
Falanghina Flegrea (genetically distinct from the falanghina grown further inland called “Beneventana”) is a house specialty at La Sibilla, especially the Cruna del Lago cru made from 65-year-old vines, a very flinty-reductive, salty, saline volcanic white.
Piedirosso is more of a work in progress, the grape that, “has always troubled me”, says di Meo. “When I make falanghina, I sleep comfortably. Piedirosso keeps me up at night”. The grape is notoriously prone to brettanomyces thanks to typically high pH, sometimes close to 4, which makes it easy for the rogue yeast to settle in, a fault di Meo is at pains to avoid. And Di Meo seems to have figured it out – see the companion Rosso and Rosato report for the review of the excellent 2024 piedirosso.
It was also a pleasure to reconnect with Raffaele Pagano of Joaquín, a winemaker I first met 10 years ago while researching Volcanic Wines. His tiny 2.5ha estate is positioned among the highest quality producers in Avellino Province. Small lots of fiano, greco and aglianico are aged for long periods, over ten years in the extreme case of Pagano’s Taurasi Buona Morte (“BM”) See Red Wine Buyer’s Guide.
Raffaele Pagano (middle) with winemaker Marco and the author
My preferred of Joaquín’s three single vineyard fianos was the remarkable Vino della Stella Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2022. Just released (though relatively early for Joaquín), this is such a beautifully fragrant and aromatically sweet, honeyed fiano from the Stella vineyard, a heavy clay parcel in the commune of Lapio, epicenter for fine fiano production.
Fans of aged whites should pay a visit to Cantina Di Meo, also in Avellino. Roberto di Meo has built this family estate, established in 1986, around the premise that Campanian whites are capable of incredible longevity, a point he handily proved with a tasting of fiano and greco back to 2004.
Current Release Alessandra Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2015 was my pick of the lot, absolutely remarkable for a 10-year-old wine, a wash of minerals and wet stones, with terrific sapidity and salinity, and length, such a well-aged example with depth an intensity in spades.
And my congratulations to Avellino FC, who moved from 3rd division in 2024-2025, to 2nd division this season. Forza Avellino!
Other names to track down:
Campi Flegrei
Contrada Salandra, Salvatore Martusciello and Vigna Astroni
Ischia
Casa d’Ambra
Vesuvius
Cantina Olivella, De Falco, Bosco dei Medici, Casa Setarovellino
Avellino
Pietracupa, Colli Lapio, Ciro Picariello, Benito Ferrara, Feudi di San Gregorio, Donnachiara, Villa Raiano, Tenuta del Meriggio Tenuta Pietradifusa di Villa Matilde Avallone
Penisola Sorrentina/Amalfi Coast
Marisa Cuomo, Tenuta San Francesco, Sammarco Ettoro, Abbazia di Crapolla
Norther Campania
Massimo Alois, Villa Matilde
Other
Montevetrano
See buyer’s guide below for the top picks out of several hundred wines tasted over a week.
The city and the Bay of Napoli from the top of Vesuvius ©John Szabo
Buyer’s Guide Campania 2025
Nicola Mazella’s new vines, Ischia ©John Szabo
Ischia Whites
94 CANTINE ANTONIO MAZZELLA Gawem Ischia DOC Biancolella 2022
Gawem is an acronym for the first names of the women in the Mazzella family, and a cuvée first made in 2021, a 100% biancolella micro cuvée fermented and aged 1/3 each in stainless steel, one new chestnut barrel (500l; the most traditional ageing vessel on Ischia), and one 500l amphora, made to show the ageing potential, and the complexity achievable, with the variety. The nose is intriguing, not particularly oxidative nor woody, certainly very mineral, with complex, candied fruit, and both fresh and dried herbs. The palate shows remarkable constitution and vigor; the wood and the amphora seem to add significant structure and depth, in combination with a rigorous selection of grapes, and the fruit of a fine, slightly cooler vintage than the mean. Length is very good to excellent, with gently smoky notes emerging with air on the finish, spicy and long, really fine, indeed a revelation of what this delicate grape can give. Best from 2026-2030. 1,200 bottles made. Tasted May 2025.
93 CANTINE ANTONIO MAZZELLA Vigna del Lume Ischia DOC Biancolella 2024
Vigna del Lume is Niccola Mazzella’s 3.5ha single vineyard cru of biancolella, with 30-50 year old-vines, with the lowest part just 20m above the sea in a sort of protected canyon; access is via a single narrow path and the harvest is ludicrously difficult – it takes three days to harvest the small parcel, with grapes brought with motorized ‘wheelbarrows’ to a central point where they are crushed right in the vineyard, and from there the must is run by hose to plastic vessels on an awaiting small boat, which brings the must to the port and then from there it’s brought up to the winery. “Heroic’ winemaking seems an understatement. And the wine? I really like the aromatics here, the complexity, the freshness and wild herbal character in the style of the variety, particularly the fennel and sweet herbs, lemon blossom and zest – I find it terpenic, like riesling, but with much softer acids and approachable palate when young, and of course bone dry. A ‘freshener’ of a wine, both in vibrancy and flavour profile, an essence of this Mediterranean island, saline and sapid. Cellar for another year or two at least for maximum development of the vineyard character – I think the 2024 will surpass the excellent 2023. Tasted May 2025.
93 CANTINE ANTONIO MAZZELLA Villa La Campagnano Epomeo Bianco IGT 2023
Produced from 50-50 blend of biancolella and forastera from all-estate vineyards, the top parcel selections, outside of the single cru Vigna del Lume bottled on its own (this is priced at the same level as the Lume), fermented and aged 30% in 330l acacia barrels, (one of three is new), then blended back with the steel portion and bottled around the end of May, the last of Mazzella’s wines to be brought to market. Now, this has aromatic interest, with wood not really a feature, and a lovely, sweet herbal, candied citrus profile – it’s really hard to spot the acacia, more the fluffy, nutty leesy character imparted by the wood portion, though there’s certainly good depth and structure. Acids are firm, and the overall impression is very dry. In another year or two this will be perfect. 4500 bottles made, sold exclusively on the island and worth tracking down. Tasted May 2025.
Casa d’Ambra’s Frassitelli Vineyard, Ischia ©John Szabo
93 CASA D’AMBRA Tenuta Frassitelli Ischia DOC Biancolella 2023
From the spectacular 3-ha Frassitelli vineyard which runs from about 500m up to 650 meters above sea level, Casa d’Ambra’s highest and last site to be harvested, rooted in volcanic sands derived from the island’s unique green tufo. It’s a pure biancolella, with a range of vine age, up to about 30 years for the oldest (vines are replaced one by one as they die), given 5 months bâtonnage in steel only. The nose is open, riding an oxidative line, while the palate shows considerable richness and density, depth and length, with a wild range of aromatics like cherry stone, citrus-lemon and sweet herbs, wild, like the rocket and thyme and fennel that grows everywhere. Acids are creamy and round, soft, and length is excellent. Quality wine, best from now-2030. Tasted May 2025.
92 CASA D’AMBRA Ischia Biancolella Ischia DOC Biancolella 2024
2024 – a fairly ‘normal’ year, slightly rainy but that’s a good thing on Ischia, resulting in healthy, ripe grapes. Biancolella is the most delicate and refined of the main Ischian white varieties, compared to, say, forastera, more rustic, but this bottling contains splashes of other minor native white varieties like san lunardo and uva rilla along with some forastera. It’s delicate and floral on the nose, though also notably ripe, featuring green apple and apple blossom, ripe lemon. The palate is silky, seamless, smooth, lightly salty on the palate with moderate acids, sufficient to buoy the ensemble. A delicate and sophisticated wine, delicious fresh like this, though surely also interesting in 2-4 years. Tasted May 2025.
90 CASA D’AMBRA Ischia DOC Forastera 2023
This pours a medium yellow colour – forastera turns a more golden colour than biancolella when fully ripe, so in line with expectations. It’s also considered a more ‘rustic’ variety, more productive, later harvested as well. The nose is open and firmly on the oxidative side, creamy, soft, gelatinous and fluid, viscous and thick, with yellow-fleshed orchard fruit, peaches and apricots, and peach yoghurt flavours leading the way. Length is very good. I have a preference for the biancolella with its delicacy and refinement, but forastera provides a solid mouthful. 13% alcohol declared. Tasted May 2025.
89 CANTINE ANTONIO MAZZELLA Ischia DOC Forastera 2023
Less aromatic on the nose than the 2023 Biancolella from Mazzella, and holding on to a pale, even greenish colour. The palate has that slippery, viscous, gelatinous texture typical of the variety, like a tasty table grape. Moderate length. Clean, correct. Made from grapes sourced from several dozen long-time grower suppliers. Tasted May 2025.
Campi Flegrei Whites
94 AGNANUM Campi Flegrei Falanghina Campi Flegrei DOC Falanghina 2023
A medium-deep yellow hue leads into a wildly savoury-herbal set of aromatics, with both sweet and resinous herbs, botanical, citrus peel, the sort of nose many artisanal gins would envy, and here just from grapes grown in the volcanic sands of the Campi Flegrei. The palate is supremely salty, and while acids are not technically high, saliva streams out – such succulence and salinity! I like the rich texture at just 12% alcohol, and the excellent length. A top-notch example of the variety and place, and among the more interesting Campanian whites not to be missed. Tasted May 2025.
93 LA SIBILLA Campi Flegrei DOC Falanghina 2022
The top falanghina cru at La Sibilla made from 65-year-old vines, the 2022 Cruna del Lago shares a spectacular set of aromatics, petrol and candied lime, yellow-fleshed orchard fruit-inflected on a bone-dry frame, not reductive like Sibilla’s 2022 Domus Giulii. Acids are lean and sharp even if they aren’t analytically high – it’s the lean, sand-derived style, with volcanic saltiness. Opened last week; 2nd bottle freshly opened: more reduction noted, and obviously fresher, flinty, tart-sharp, super salty, Bone dry, lean in the best way, long, salty finish. A wine-lovers wine through and through, the best white at La Sibilla. Tasted May 2025.
93 ASTRONI Cru Vigna Astroni Campi Flegrei DOC Falanghina 2020
Medium-golden colour; richly extracted, dense, high-intensity palate with creamy-fresh texture and terrific mineral wash, and long, saline finish. Citrus is there, but the main features are stones and salt, the way we like it. This is a tour de force of falanghina flegrea, Astroni’s top bottling in my view, not easy, but worth the effort. Highly original. Tasted May 2025.
92 LA SIBILLA Domus Giulii Campi Flegrei DOC Falanghina 2023
Crafted in the reductive La Sibilla house style, the 2023 Domus Giulii, one of the estate’s single vineyard falanghinas, pours a medium-deep green gold colour and delivers grapefruit pith, peel and fruit flavours on a mid-weight, sharp-tart, lean and salty frame. This is such a distinctive wine, severe, uncompromising, with excellent length and depth. Fine wine, just a beat slower than the flagship Cruna del Lago bottling, and very much worth a look. Tasted May 2025.
91 CONTRADA SALANDRA Campi Flegrei DOC Falanghina 2022
Clean and pure, precise, tightly wound, citric and salty in the falanghina flegrea style, this is also refined and seamless on the palate, with searing salinity that drives freshness, and a mineral wash that lingers on and on. For the money, this is excellent wine. Tasted May 2025.
90 LA SIBILLA Campi Flegrei DOC Falanghina 2024
“We’re trying to exalt the saltiness of the variety” winemaker-owner Vincenzo Di Meo, now firmly established as different variety than the falanghina grown further inland, not a clone or even a biotype. Falanghina Beneventana has higher sugar, higher extract, and higher acidity on average, while these-called falanghina Flegrea grown in the Campi Flegrei accumulates less sugar and extract, and holds less acidity, and thus has “nothing with which to “hide” the origins of the vineyards where it grows, the more transparent of the two falanghinas you could say”, says Vincenzo, “a more modern wine”. This example has 12% alc. (11.5-13% is the typical range), and is clean, sharp, fresh, fruit-backwards, salt-forwards, highly herbal, stony. Acids seem sharp even if analytically they’re not high, though crunchy, green, saliva-inducing (3.5-3.6pH, 6-7 grams acids is typical). It’s the low dry extract that makes these wines seem lean and sharp tight. I really like this, a wine to drink young and fresh like this. Tasted May 2025.
Irpinia Fiano
95 COLLI DI LAPIO Fiano di Avellino Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2024
Such a fresh and pretty nose leads off on Romano Clelia’s 2024 fiano, always a reference in the denomination. This vintage is particularly pure and aromatic, floral and herbal, sweet green grass and tarragon-inflected, lemon-citrus and more. The palate is succulent, savoury, saline and sapid, drawing desire for additional sips. Length is excellent. A fine vintage for this wine, best from about 2027 – give it time to expand and develop. Tasted May 2025.
95 CIRO PICARIELLO Ciro 906 Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2022
Fine and clean, tightly wound, mineral and stony, a proper rendition of fiano from Avellino to be sure, one of the top references in the denomination. I love the succulent acids, the saliva-inducing salinity, the crunchy green and yellow fruit, the excellent length. The 2022 is an excellent wine to be sure, a seamless and savoury, inviting vintage, for consumption from 2025-2032 or so. Lovely stuff. Tasted May 2025.
95 JOAQUIN Vino della Stella Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2022
Just released, this is such a beautifully fragrant and aromatically sweet, honeyed fiano from the Stella vineyard, a heavy clay parcel in the commune of Lapio epicenter for fine fiano production. What a broad range of citrus and white orchard fruit, floral and sweet herbal flavours on offer! A highly terpenic expression. The palate is silky and delicate, with subtle underlying depth and power, and especially length. An excellent vintage from this quality-obsessed producer, balanced, sophisticated and gorgeous, the most classic style out of the three single vineyards made by Joaquín. 14% alcohol. Tasted May 2025.
Tasting at Di Meo ©John Szabo
95 DI MEO Alessandra Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2015
Remarkable for an almost 10-year-old wine, Di Meo’s 2015 fiano riserva is a wash of minerals and wet stones, with terrific sapidity and salinity, and length – wow I’m really enjoying this, such a well-aged example with depth an intensity in spades. Fruit is still intact – mostly citrus and green orchard fruit, exceptional for this generally warm vintage. Lovely length and depth. Roberto Di Meo is well-known for releasing wines very late, 10 years old in this case, a policy that runs counter to the Italian culture of freshest-is-best, but he has proven his point over and over of the longevity of the great whites of Campania. Find this. Tasted May 2025.
94 PIETRACUPA Cupo Campania IGT Fiano 2023
Il Cupo is produced from the top selection of fruit from Sabino Loffredo’s oldest fiano vines, and this 2023 puts proper flinty-stony reduction on display here, and yes, a whiff of SO2 as well, but such a lovely, crunchy, zesty palate with genuine energy and vibrancy, all green citrus and white-fleshed orchard fruit. The mid-weight palate is impeccably balanced with loads of savour and sapidity, the saliva-inducing kind. It’s surprisingly immediate and appealing in style, but this will surely age well into the mid-’30s. An exceptional wine. Tasted May 2025.
94 JOAQUIN Piante a Lapio Campania IGT Fiano 2019
Medium gold colour; deep, complex aromatics – there’s a lot going on here in a wood-aged, sophisticated and ambitious style of fiano. Just over three-quarters is aged in 500l mainly acacia and chestnut wood barrels (only a small amount of oak). The palate is very dry, grippy, lightly astringent even, an idiosyncratic style, one which I find a little rustic, ambitious as it is. Long finish and high concentration are undeniable, but it’s a demanding style, one that takes time and effort to unravel. Spend a night with this. I really like the phenolics and the spice; wood is really well digested, with class and elegance. Tasted May 2025.
Ilaria Petito, Donnachiara, with winemaker Alessio Gaiaschi ©John Szabo
93 BENITO FERRARA Sequenzha Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2024
Following the logical ‘sequence’ of wines, Sequenzha was created to complete Ferrara’s classic Irpinian range of wines, the only one made from purchased grapes. On the 2024 vintage: “nulla da dire, una bellissima annata”, says owner-winemaker Gabriella Ferrara, nothing to say, a beautiful vintage. The heavier clays helped retain humidity during the warm dry summer. Ferrara is more of a greco specialists, but her pale green-gold 2024 fiano is an equally top-quality example, creamy, broad and seamless, gently saline, with streamlined acids and long finish, still a year or two away from prime enjoyment at least. 6 months on the fine lees serves to add some flesh. I appreciate the balance and the complexity, the ease of drinking and the sophisticated flavour profile. Top kit. Tasted May 2025.
93 DONNACHIARA Esoterico Bio Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2024
Clean and sharp, yet to shed a whiff of SO2, the aromatic potential here is high with plenty of citrus waiting in the wings to appear with a sweet, candied edge. Acids are terrifically crispy and crunchy, and overall, it’s impeccably made, tight and precise. A very fine vintage I’d say, best from 2027 – lots to like here. Tasted May 2025.
93 TENUTE CAPALDO – FEUDI DI SAN GREGORIO Arianiello Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2021
Part of the “Feudi Studi” range of single vineyard wines, limited bottlings done to study the expression of select terroirs, the Contrada Arianiello from Lapio, considered the epicentre of classic fiano production, pours a pale greenish-yellow colour. It’s still surprisingly tightly wound on the nose, revealing little, aside from sweet green herbs, wildflowers and lemony-citrus fruit, with lees influence noted but not excessive. Acids are lovely and saliva-inducing, and length is excellent. A fine ‘studi’ from Feudi, of quality and class well above the mean, delicate and elegant though surely cellerable into the early ’30s. Tasted May 2025.
JOAQUIN Vigna Campo Aperto © John Szabo
93 JOAQUIN Vigna Campo Aperto Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2022
Just released, this is just the second vintage bottled of this fiano from the Campo Aperto vineyard around owner Raffaele Pagano’s villa in Lapio. It’s given overnight skin contact, and phenolics are noted, both from the botanical aromatics to the grippy palate with its gentle tannins. Flavours shift more into the yellow fruit spectrum, with dried mint, spearmint, an almost mentholated, cooling sensation on the warm palate at over 14% alcohol. Length is excellent. More of an acquired taste, singular and unique, relative to Joaquín’s Stella bottling of fiano. Excellent length. Tasted May 2025.
93 JOAQUIN Vino della Stella Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2021
This comes across as a notably mature, almost late-harvest style, with caramelized, bronzed fruit, orange zest and candied lemon, intriguing to be sure. The palate is broad, open, on the oxidative, saffron-inflected side of things, with gentle but present acids and very long finish. A unique, idiosyncratic style. To be revisited. Fantasy here. Tasted May 2025.
92 DI MEO Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2024
Clean, fragrant, herbal in the proper and usual way, with just a touch of honey now that will surely develop further in time; the palate shows a degree of sweetness and ripeness and aromatic/flavour intensity indicating full ripeness, though remains a tightly focused and concentrated wine, with very good depth and length. I’d cellar for another 1-2 years to round off that phenolic edge. It will make for fine drinking from about 2027. Tasted May 2025.
92 TENUTE CAPALDO – FEUDI DI SAN GREGORIO Pietracalda Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2023
Some S02 is noted off the top with underlying stony, plaster of Paris type aromatics, fruit-backwards in any case. The palate displays the potential, however, the energy and depth, the succulence and the range of flavour of which fiano is capable, running straight through to a pronounced black licorice finish. Yeasty lees play their part, waiting to shift into honeyed aromas. Length and depth are very good to excellent. Well done, for the challenging vintage to be sure, best from 2027. Tasted May 2025.
92 TENUTA DEL MERIGGIO Fiano di Avellino Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2023
Clean and pretty nose, ripe, broad, and complex, also fullish palate with fine salinity and minerality, with balance and thiol notes bringing in a range of citrus from grapefruit through to lemon-lime zest. I like the palate presence, the seamless nature, the evident depth and concentration. Very sharp value indeed. Tasted May 2025.
91 DI MEO Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2023
Clean and fragrant, developing nicely and still fresh, with attractive floral character, cherry and apple blossoms. the palate is creamy fresh, well-balanced, With very good length and depth. Soft but solid. Tasted May 2025.
91 ROCCA DEL PRINCIPE Neviera di Sopra Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2020 Surprisingly still closed on the nose, but with fantasy on the palate, zesty lemony fruit, sharp acids and fine stony-mineral character, this is remarkably good, balanced, authentic. The palate has phenolic grip but should resolve in time – this wine appears to be moving very slowly and should last into the ’30s without too much of a stretch. Tasted May 2025.
91 TENUTA DEL MERIGGIO Colle delle Ginestre Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2019
Meriggio’s top Fiano expression shows noted evolution nearly 6 years in, more on the nose than the bright, pale gold colour, also on the palate with the evolving, lightly bruised orchard fruit flavours and wet hay/honey. Length and depth are good, but for the money, I’ll take Meriggio’s ‘regular’ bottling, solid as this is. Tasted May 2025.
91 VILLA RAIANO Fiano di Avellino DOCG 2024
Subtle and reserved on the nose, Raiano’s 2024 Fiano is at an embryonic phase, though shows great aromatic and flavour potential given the weight and the extract on the palate. Length is excellent, as is depth and overall concentration in the price category. Quality wine, best from 2026. Tasted May 2025.
90 DE’ GAETA De’ Gaeta Fiano di Avellino DOCG Riserva 2023
Intriguing petrol/hydrocarbon notes join more usual citrus-lemon peel and zest notes, one could say a very mineral expression, even lightly smoky, like a puff of white smoke and yeasty-lees. It’s hard to nail down the exact profile as it keeps shifting, but a fruity wine this is not in any case. Length and depth are very good. To be revisited after 2027 – let’s see where this petrol goes; it’s not a wine for fruit lovers. Tasted May 2025.
Rainbow over the Vigna Cicogna, Greco di Tufo ©John Szabo
Irpinia Greco
94 FERRARA BENITO Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG 2024
Ferrara’s top single vineyard expression of greco is produced from a three-hectare parcel in San Paolo, a hamlet of Tufo, which includes up to 70 year old vines, with younger vines (c. 30 years) inter-planted between these old-school, very wide rows. Soils are deep and clay-rich with veins of limestone and sulfur, which seems to give an extra lift and stony twang to the Cicogna. The 2024 vintage, characterized by aroma-enhancing diurnal temperature swings, takes on a particularly aromatic expression, though the palate really shines as well with its rich and creamy texture framed and supported by ripe acids and especially supple tannins, a genuine mouthful, warm and satisfying. Length and depth are exceptional, finishing on sweet mandarin and tangelo flavours. This freshly opened bottle shows a very gentle prickle, a good thing to lift the freshness, but it will blow off. Lovely stuff, with a fine, botanical, refreshingly bitter-terpenic finish. Best from 2027. Tasted May 2025.
94 TENUTA PIETRAFUSA DI VILLA MATILDE AVALLONE Daltavilla Greco di Tufo DOCG 2024
From Villa Matilde’s Avellino property called Pietrafusa, this is a lovely, clean, creamy, professionally-made greco with style and grace, and uncommon elegance in the category. The palate is refined and creamy, with balanced acids and tannins, and excellent length. Really well done I have to say, a highlight of the vintage, best from 2026. Tasted May 2025.
93 JOAQUIN 110 Oyster Greco di Tufo DOCG 2024
2024 marks the first bottling of “110 Oyster” in 10 years, (so-named “oyster” because the inaugural release was deemed not suitable to consume with oysters”, a subtle jab at a local critic), Joaquín’s only greco bottling. And it’s the only early release from the estate; usually wines, even whites, are held back in the winery for at least a couple of years, but the Italian distributor was clamouring for more. It aged in three, 225l barrels with a larger part in steel, which is given vigorous bâtonnage; malolactic goes through. Two bottles were tasted and the second bottle is less reductive than the first, still flinty, however, and gently thiol-driven, with firm nicely tight palate, not at all fat or overly rich. Lemon pith and zest, umami-rich flavours linger on the long and pleasantly bitter finish. It’s embryonic at this stage, a couple of years away from prime, indeed this should still be sleeping in the cellar, though shows great promise. Tasted May 2025.
93 TENUTA DEL MERIGGIO Greco di Tufo DOCG 2023
Subtle on the nose, but more explosive on the palate, Meriggio’s 2023 greco is a stylish and flavourful, stony and fruity example with good but not excessive structure. I like the balance on the palate, and the length, and the overall stylishness of it all. Well done, best from 2027. Tasted May 2025.
92 VILLA RAIANO Greco di Tufo DOCG 2024
A fresh and clean, more thiol-driven style with its grapefruit-reductive notes, citrus zest and green lime flavours; I like the crunchy acids and the contained structure, not overtly tannic/phenolic like many in the genre. Acids are zesty and crunchy and the overall balance is excellent. Professionally made wine from well-farmed grapes, best from 2027 or so. Lots to admire here. Tasted May 2025.
92 BENITO FERRARA Terra d’Uva Greco di Tufo DOCG 2024
Terra d’Uva is now the mid-tier greco made from across all of Ferrara’s c. 25 hectares of Greco di Tufo DOCG (with the exception of the cru Vigna Cicogna, and the bits that are used for the entry level IGT Campania bianco blended with a splash of Coda di Volpe). I like the touch of reduction and the petrol-like note that has already set in, a frequent feature of the variety. The palate is fleshy and broad – malolactic didn’t go through but there’s no hardness on the palate. I like the fresh green fruit, ripe lemon and zest; phenolics are mild but present as always with greco. Length and depth are very good to excellent. Lots of pleasure here. Give another year or so in bottle. 5.50 TA. Tasted May 2025.
Tasting at Feudi di San Gregorio ©John Szabo
92 TENUTE CAPALDO – FEUDI DI SAN GREGORIO Cutizzi Greco di Tufo DOCG Riserva 2023
Work past the sulfur, a feature of so many 2023s, a challenging vintage, to get to the ripe, yellow-fleshed fruit underneath. Tannins are contained and not overtly astringent though grippy to be sure, while length and depth are very good to excellent. A finer example of 2023, in the top echelon no doubt. Best from 2027. Tasted May 2025.
91 COLLI DI LAPIO Alexandros Greco di Tufo DOCG 2024
Pale-medium gold colour; aromatics are subdued for now, while the palate is thick and extracted, palpably tannic-astringent, indeed more structured than most light red wines. CO2 also serves to firm up the palate, so be sure to give this at least 2-3 years in the cellar to come around, and/or carafe and serve in large stems. Depth, length and ultimately complexity are very good. Tasted May 2025.
90 DI MEO Greco di Tufo DOCG 2023
Seems like a whiff of sulfur still off the top, with ripe, yellow fruit underlying, alongside caramelized lemon zest. I find the palate a bit hard, even lightly stressed, with modest length, relatively. Still a very solid wine to be sure, if not Di Meo’s top bottling. Tasted May 2025.
The Sorrentine Peninsula and Càpri from the summit of Vesuvius ©John Szabo
Other White Varieties & White Blends
95 CUOMO MARISA Fiorduva Costa d’Amalfi DOC Furore Bianco 2023
Cuomo’s Furore Bianco is composed of 40% ripoli, 30% ginestra and 30% fenile, from century plus-old vines grown on dolomitic limestones on the Amalfi Coast, aged for 6 months in barrel. It pours a pale greenish yellow, and delivers a delicate array of white flower and citrus aromas and flavours, lemon curd, sweet green herbs, fresh fennel fronds, mint and lemon zest, and more in a complete and complex expression with terrific complexity and depth. Length is superb – this hangs on and on. Such a delicate yet powerful wine, top class, in the top tier of southern Italy without question. Drinking well now, but should age nicely into the early ’30s. Tasted May 2025.
94 ALOIS Morrone Terre del Volturno IGT Pallagrello Bianco 2023
Morrone is Massimo Alois’s premium version of pallagrello bianco, made from vines of 20 years of age on average, aged 9 months in oak. It’s more shy on the nose than the Caiati, a more immediate (and less expensive) version, here notably subtle and reserved, but with depth and power underlying. I really like the texture of this grape, the alliance between acids and richness, the creamy texture yet with precise lines, and above all the exceptional length – structure is excellent. A wine of style and depth, with perfectly integrated wood and broad range of orchard fruit flavours. Lovely stuff, best from 2026. Tasted May 2025.
92 ABBAZIA DI CRAPOLLA Sireo Campania IGT Bianco 2022
A fiano-falanghina blend on the Penisola Sorrentina, this pours a pale green-yellow hue and offers up a range of delicate citrus and white flower aromatics in an understated and elegant presentation. The palate is silky and seamless, with significant density and depth, and terrific, sapid and succulent acids. Length is excellent, too. Quality wine, fine and refined, sophisticated, well made. Tasted May 2025.
TMassimo Alois and his volcanic ash and dust ©John Szabo
91 ALOIS Caiatì Terre del Volturno IGT Pallagrello Bianco 2024
Curiously lactic and candied off the top, also like cherry juice and maraschino cherries, Alois’s 2024 Caiatì has an unusual profile to be sure, without easy comparative. The palate is broad and round, quite deep and concentrated, with rich, creamy texture and long finish with a pleasant point of bitterness, and cherry yoghurt flavours. A wild ride of a wine, in a category of its own, a discovery to be made. Drink or hold into the early ’30s, judging by the longevity of previous vintages. Also a sharp value at 14e retail. Tasted May 2025.
90 MONTEVETRANO Core Bianco Campania IGT Bianco 2024
A blend of fiano and greco crafted in a clean, fresh, oak-free style, focused on citrus fruit, pith and peel flavours with fine depth and density. I like the creamy texture allied to citric acids that drive saliva. Broad and round, satisfying, well balanced, quality wine. Drink or hold short term. Tasted May 2025.
90 DE FALCO VINI Ikon Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio Bianco Superiore DOC 2023
Ikon is a pure caprettone from San Giuseppe Vesuviano on the northeast side of the volcano (the “Monte Somma Terra” quadrant as it’s now known), one of De Falco’s cru selections, aged three months on lees in stainless steel. 2023 was a hot vintage, and the ripeness and density are evident, also in the soft texture, billowing, with a mix of stones and citrus fruit, sweet herbs and creamy lees. Length and depth are good if not outstanding. Decent length. Ready to enjoy. Tasted may 2025.
90 CONTRADE DI TAURASI CANTINE LONARDO Grecomusc’ Anfora Bio Campania IGT Bianco 2022
Cantine Lonardo’s rare, pure example of the grecomusc variety is vinified and aged in amphora, and pours a pale golden colour while offering up oxidative, bruised fruit aromas, binned apple, dried citrus, dried flowers and similar. The palate enters broadly before tightening up on the back end thanks to firm, succulent acids. This is growing on me – beyond the mushy fruit there’s significant depth and complexity, and a savoury-umami profile that draw desire for additional sips. But it’s not a sipping wine in any case, rather one for the table with roasted white meats; cellar until the end of the decade I suspect without concern. Tasted May 2025.
90 BOSCO DE’ MEDICI Pompeiano IGT Bianco Bio 2024
A pure caprettone from the slopes of Vesuvius given short skin contact to produce a colourful white with fine depth, at the nexus of fresh and evolved, drinking well now. I like the botanical, citrus aspect, the lemon pith and zest, the long finish. Fine concentration and depth overall, a superior example. Tasted May 2025.
90 CANTINE OLIVELLA Summa Catalanesca del Monte Somma IGT 2023
Ripe, smoky, ashy, fruit-backwards, save for a backdrop of green fruits; the palate shows high density and extract, almost chewy, thick, gelatinous texture, and long finish. Such a unique wine, with a shabby-chic profile: is it fine? Is it rustic? Whatever it is, it delivers pleasure and conversation-starting interest. Length is very good – I can see this being a fine table grape with lots of sweetness and pulpy juice (as it was classified officially until quite recently, thanks to Cantine Olivella’s efforts to get it in the catalogue of accepted wine grapes), but it also makes for worthy wine. Tasted May 2025.
89 MASSERIA DELLO SBIRRO Patrì Vesuvio DOC Caprettone 2024
A pure caprettone, aged in dolia, and it pours a medium yellow gold colour with oxidative aromatics, dried flowers, yellow apples. Round and soft on the palate with above average density and good length. A little loose for me, but holds it all together well enough in the end. Tasted May 2025.
88 VILLA DORA Vesuvite Vesuvio Caprettone 2023
Villa Dora’s entry level bianco, from ungrafted caprettone vines. I like the gently smoky nature, the light lees. The palate is creamy but also sharp, not terribly complex but enjoyable. Chill and enjoy young. 6.2 TA, 3.1pH at maximum, at 12% alc. usually – ungrafted vines tend to struggle to accumulate sugar but keep low pH. Tasted May 2025.
That’s all for this special report, see you ’round the next bottle.
John Szabo, MS