Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine

This summer I visited Irpinia, Sannio, Daunia, and Lucania. What? You’ve never heard of these places? And you thought you knew your Italian geography! These are not Children of a Lesser Italy, but big, delicious food&wine regions that you may know by other names. Today I’m focusing on Irpinia, a mountainous area inland from Naples, where the main city is Avellino.

And who better to lead me through the discovery of the area than Daniela Mastroberardino, President of the National Association of Women of Wine (Le Donne del Vino)?

Since we started out in Avellino, our first meal was that world-famous Neapolitan dish: pizza! But not just any pizza – this was pizza with pizzazz: signed by Chef Giuseppe Maglione, Daniele Gourmet pizza distinguishes itself for the toppings: super-fresh, authentic, local products.

And who says pizza and beer is the winning combo? I love my pizza with wine, and this was a scrumptious pairing where the Falanghina completed the tastes of both veggie pizzas beautifully. This part of the world loves the combo of zucchini and cheese: one pizza was almost an interpretation of pasta alla Nerano, with the fried zucchini and a mix of cheeses, strictly white pizza.

The following day, we explored the mountains and valley of Irpinia as Daniela explained to me the history of the region and her family’s wine production.

We all know (or should know!) the three big DOCGs from Irpinia: Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino, and Taurasi, also called the Barolo of the South (which is reductive). The other thing we know is that Campania is famous for white wines… even though the Falanghina from this area is ‘only’ a DOC!
What I found surprising is the unexpressed potential of this region: all of Campania only produces less than 3% of Italy’s national production, Irpinia counts for about 1%. The area of Benevento (Sannio) produces more, with its 10,617 hectares under vine compared to Avellino (Irpinia) with 7,414 hectares.

The full gamut here at Terredora Dipaolo, from white to rosé to red, with a passito thrown in for good luck!

If you consider that the winemaking school in Avellino was one of the first in Italy, started along with similar schools in Piedmont and Veneto, you wonder what happened.  Why didn’t Campania keep the pace with those other two heavy-hitting wine-producing regions? It was the great intellectual of the 19^th century, Francesco De Sanctis, born in Irpinia, who was Minister of Public Education when he started this school almost 150 years ago.

Daniela’s brothers went to this school, but it was her father – whom I had the privilege and honor to meet that day! – who brought the family’s winemaking into the 21^st century. It’s a story of ups and downs shared by so many wineries, in particular the successful ones, where adversity and loss have been the stimulus to face the future with courage and determination, a sprinkling of innovation, and then just plain old rolling up your sleeves and working hard. Every time I hear one of these stories my reaction is: what am I complaining about? Look what can be achieved!
Daniela’s father was 60 when he started up his new winery with his sons, Lucio and Paolo. Dora Di Paolo was their mother’s name, thus Terredora or ‘lands of Dora’ and Dipaolo, putting together the two parts of her last name, and paying homage to her.

A visit out to the vineyards showed us Falanghina and Fiano growing… that is, where the blight on the land hadn’t reached them. In case you haven’t heard, peronospora is a fungus that has literally plagued the vines this year, destroying vineyards and subsequently the production, down by some estimates as much as 40% nationwide in Italy this year. What is also devastating is seeing entire vineyards look like they’ve gone up in smoke, with leaves burnt deep red or brown, and no grapes on the vines. So sad!

Lunch gave us the opportunity to pair the big reds with some hearty food. Delicious homemade pasta with funghi porcini and then a hearty cheese, grilled to perfection, made this big red-loving vegetarian very happy.

But back in the cellar, I was able to see how thinking big, using technology, and looking toward a brighter future have buoyed this family’s enterprise. Look carefully at the middle photo: how small we are compared to the big picture, right? A woman and her winery…

We tasted whites that are made to last…

On the Greco di Tufo I got great complexity with green apple, citrus, honey, pineapple, lemon and sea breeze.
But going beyond the white comfort zone with older vintages on the Fiano brought out beeswax, orange peel, saffron and even toasted almond, a hint of something oily, hydrocarbonic, reminiscent of Riesling…

After visiting Terredora Dipaolo, we traipsed through more countryside…

visited sites of cultural interest…

and then celebrated the end of a perfect day with more great wine and food…

and in the company of more Donne del Vino from Campania! What a lovely dinner at Tenuta Cavalier Pepe in Sant’Angelo all’Esca.
Grazie to the great people who made it a great day!