Through the years we have purchased, consumed and gifted many bottles of wine from Southern Italy. From each of the approximate 50 wineries we have visited over the past 7 years we have purchased their wines from a variety of places; wine stores in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Italy. The photos show the current state of our wine cellar; all 875 bottles (85% or about 750 bottles are from Southern Italy). In the photos there are many empty bottles upright over the wine racks. These bottles represent my early interest in Italian wines (I was originally obsessed with wines form Piemonte; in particular Giacomo Conterno and Rinaldi) and my current interest in Southern Italian wines (thanks to my cousin Michael Bonadies who encouraged me to look to the South, the area of our Italian heritage, for outstanding quality at a low price).

Terre del Principe, the first winery that we visited seven years ago, has the most wines in the cellar; over 70  bottles. Terre del Principe wines move in and out of our cellar quickly; in particular Piancastelli which my family and friends cannot seem to get enough. Le Serole is a favorite white wine.

Salvatore Molettieri has the second most wines with over 45 bottles. Next is Perillo with over 40 bottles, followed by Luigi Maffini with 35 bottles. We have over 30 bottles of Le Vigne di Raito and Antica Enotria. The over 20 bottles group include Casa di Baal, Antico Castillo, Antonio Caggiano and Fabiana. The wine cellar does not reflect the many wineries that have had many bottles cycle through the cellar over the years; Reale  has had over 75 bottles, La Sibilla 50, Regina Viarum 35, and many over 25 bottles including: Laluce, Bambinuto, Galardi, Salvatore Magnoni, Ciro Picariello, Mila Vuolo, Colli Cerentino, Musto Carmelitano, Casebianche, Nanni Cope, Tecci, Il Cancelliere, Verrone, Marisa Cuomo, Montevetrano, D’Angelo, Carbone, Elena Fucci, Venditti and others. Of course the wineries mentioned earlier in the paragraph also have had many wines cycle through the wine cellar.

We do not drink all the wine that we purchase; we share or make gifts of wine to our friends; and donate wine for auctions at nonprofit organizations fundraising events. Our goal is to spread the word on the quality and story of Southern Italian wines. There is much education and advocacy to do; we find far too many restaurants that assert that they serve traditional Southern Italian cuisine, but will have few and sometimes no wines from Southern Italy. For example, we went to a restaurant that on a special night was featuring food from Basilicata, but the wine list included no wine from Basilicata. Similarly, a restaurant in Providence, RI claimed it was serving Neapolitan cuisine, but its wine list consisted of only one bottle of white wine from Campania. So what was my response? For the former I brought a bottle of a wine from Vulture and for the latter I expressed my displeasure in email. On my visit two years later the restaurant had eight bottles from Campania, but they were from large wineries. I wrote an email congratulating the restaurant on the expanded wine list, but suggested that the restaurant’s wine list  include wines from smaller Campania wineries.

Okay back to the wine cellar; now that I got the slight against Southern Italian wines off my chest. Our wine cellar is lacking in a couple areas; (1) we have difficulty obtaining wines that are not exported to Massachusetts, New York or New Jersey; and (2) we need more wines from Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia and Abruzzo.  We tend not to purchase and share wine with friends unless we have visited the winery or met the owner; thus it is apparent that we have not visited Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia or Abruzzo. We intend to address this limitation, in part, this year as we are planning a trip to the Ciro Marina wine area of Calabria. We also intend to visit other wine areas: Primitivo di Manduria, Vulture, Irpinia, Cilento, Salerno, Amalfi Coast, Napoli and Caserta. It will be another busy agenda; making new friends and saying hello to old friends.

In closing a special thanks to the importers and wine stores; and The Wine Bus and the many family owned wineries in Southern Italy; and my family and friends; all who enable me to share my passion.