Wines from Campania

There are houses that ask themselves a single question. Not: What else can we do? But rather: How well can we do one thing? Galardi, at the foot of the extinct Roccamonfina volcano in northern Campania, has been producing exactly one wine since 1994. Just one. Year after year. The location is exceptional: south-west exposure at 500 metres, volcanic soil of silt, clay and rock, rich in mineral salts from two eras of volcanic activity – leucite lava and basalt, superimposed and weathered over hundreds of thousands of years. Chestnut woods, olive groves, underground springs that never dry up, even in dry years. The sea breezes from the Gulf of Gaeta provide natural climate control. 80% Aglianico, 20% Piedirosso – the legitimate natives of this region. Fermentation with skin contact for 20 days, pumping over twice daily, malolactic fermentation in steel, twelve months ageing in French barriques (40% new, 60% second and third passage), then a further twelve months in bottle.

"The Stilèma project was born as a testimony of Antonio Mastroberardino's love for his land, his vines and his wines, for their original character." Piero Mastroberardino

The project aims to highlight the link between the vines, the wines and their territorial origins. The Mastroberardino family wants to recreate the style of winemaking of the indigenous grape varieties of Irpinia (Greco, Fiano and Aglianico) that took place between the late 1950s and early 1970s for the Taurasi and between 1970 and 1980 for the two white wines from Irpinia. It is the unmistakable style (the stilèma) of a family that has interpreted the natural heritage of its territory over generations and that today impressively emphasises the genuine character of the terroir, which by no means can be expressed through high concentration and intensity alone.

"Our winery is situated right in the heart of the vineyard," says Luigi Moio, "and the time between harvest and crushing is practically zero; the grapes reach the vat at their peak of freshness, without any chance of them changing." A statement that sums up the philosophy of this estate, founded in 2001 together with Laura Di Marzio. Moio, a professor of oenology at the University of Federico II in Naples and, since 2015, president of the Oenology Commission of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) in Paris, is carrying on a legacy established by his father, Michele Moio – a legendary winemaker from Mondragone who, in the 1950s, revived Falerno, one of the world’s oldest wines.

"A great wine is a perfect fusion of science and poetry, of the measurable and the unpredictable." Luigi Moio's own words sum up what defines this wine – the very cru that bears the name of the estate itself. Two hectares of Aglianico, planted in 2001 – the year the estate was founded – on the north-western slope of the Tenuta, on soil consisting of swellable clay rich in limestone: a subsoil that lends the wine structure and longevity. Simple horizontal counter-trellis training with spur pruning, 5,000 vines per hectare, yielding barely more than one kilogram per vine. The grapes are hand-harvested in October, in small 15-kilo crates, when they have reached full phenolic ripeness. In the cellar, careful selection takes place before and after destemming, followed by 20 to 25 days' fermentation at 28 to 30°C, then 18 to 24 months in new barriques, followed by further ageing in bottle.