Each of the three wineries visited on this day are rooted in history. We capped the day with a family dinner at Gaetano’s parents’ home. This was our longest day due in large part to the multi-course feast at Gaetano’s parents’ home, well worth it!
La Sibilla
La Sibilla is a 70,000 bottles per year, family-operated winery located in the town of Bacoli, Campi Flegrei area west of Naples. This was our fourth visit and this time we focused on historical structures located on or adjacent to the family’s property. The most noteworthy historical structure is the remains of Julius Caesar’s summer residence. The remains include a stone wall and part of the interior of a home (photo at top). The summer residence provided an ideal defensive position as two water routes were visible from the cottage. One is the Gulf of Baia. The ancient city of Baia is submerged under the surface of the Gulf of Baia. At low tide when the water is clear, structures from the city are visible. The ancient city is on top of an active volcano. In a normal year the ancient city rises
about one centimeter, but in years of intense volcanic activity, it rises more, as in 1982 when the ancient city rose by about 10 centimeters.
On the walk up the hill through the vineyard to the summer residence, we saw a 17th century pig house as well as wild and cultivated vegetation including bamboo plants which were previously used to support the grape vines; portuloca, an edible weed; and wild yellow flowers which we learned were flowering arugula. Of the 9.5 hectares of vineyard, 6.5 hectares are included within the family estate and the balance is located about a kilometer away. We also visited La Sibilla’s old stone cellar.
Vincenzo DiMeo, who assumed the role of wine-maker succeeding his father Luigi, prevailed upon us to taste two wines; Cruna Delago and Marsiliano. The former is made with La Sibilla’s finest falanghina grapes and the latter is a blend of the marsigliese, olivella, and piedirosso grapes. La Sibilla is the only winery that uses such a high percentage of marsigliese (60-70%) in a wine.
Regina Viarum
Regina Viarum, which translates to “Queen of the Road” is located at the base of Mount Massico within the Falerno wine area; wines from this area were a favorite of the ancient Romans. We visited this winery because we are friendly with its American importer, Nick Mucci. It is certified organic; and the wine consultant is Gennaro Reale, who together with his business partner, Fortunato Sebastiano, is dedicated to sustainable viticulture. The Maddalena/Angelino family has been bottling wine since 2003; Elda Maddalena’s family has been harvesting grapes for over 100 years for its use and to sell. A small winery with a production of about 15,000 bottles is one of four wineries in the Falerno Massico DOC area that makes wine with the primitivo grape. Other grapes used to make the
wine, but in smaller amounts, include: piedirosso, barbera, and falanghina.
We toured the vineyards with Gennaro Reale and Amalia Angelino. Some vines were eighty years old. At first I did not realize the proximity of the vineyard to the sea, but we could see the Tyrrhenian Sea from the vineyard. After the vineyard tour, Amalia and her parents, Pasquale Angelino and Elda Maddalena and Gennaro hosted a wine tasting of the winery’s Rosato, Zero5, Barone and a primitivo dessert wine that was remarkable .
We spent over two hours discussing how the winery adheres to organic viticulture, the wine market in the USA, and the historical significance of the the Falerno Massico DOC area. Of course we had bread, cheese, and cured meats to pair with the wine.
Cantine Lonardo Azienda Agricola Contrade di Taurasi di Enza Lonardo
Another small, certified organic family-operated winery, located in the town of Taurasi, has longstanding ties to the community. The Lonardo family is famous for its construction of a 18th century church located in the center of town. More recently the family is known for not only producing award-awarding wines, but also for their commitment to education. The founder of the winery, Allesandro Lonardo, is a retired teacher of literature. In addition he is a sommelier. Flavio Castaldo, Sandro’s son-in-law, is a teacher of archeology, literature, and history and has authored a book, Archeologia dei Vini in Campania, and is in the middle of writing another book with its focus on the Mt. Vesuvio area. Antonella, daughter of Sandro and wife of Flavio, is a former teacher of
literature and currently works in the cantina and vineyards. Flavio, when he is not involved with his educational pursuits, assists Antonella in the cantina and vineyards.
The family incorporates education and research into its winemaking. About ten years ago, Professor Giancarlo Moschetti of the University of Palermo together with oenologist Maurizio DeSimone studied the use of commercial yeast in winemaking at Cantine Lonardo. They found that wines lose their distinguishing character with the use of commercial yeasts. With the assistance of the Lonardo family, Moschetti and DeSimone focused on a selection of yeast strain belonging to a particular “pedo-climatic” area, to respect and/or enhance the wine character; the so-called “terroir”. As a result of the study the Lonardo family does not use commercial yeasts in the fermentation process.
A few notes about the wines; Cantine Lonardo discovered the ancient “lost” grape, grecomusc’, which they use to produce an award-winning white wine. The majority of the approximately 20,000 bottles of wine produced are Taurasi, made from the aglianico grape. The Lonardo family has over 100 years of experience in the wine business.
Petrillo Family
In what has become a yearly highlight of our trip, we were invited to a Petrillo family Southern Italian country feast. We started dinner at 9:30 pm, late for Americans, but not unusual for Italians. In addition to Gaetano and his parents, Pietro and Angela, we had dinner with Gaetano’s brother Michele’s parents-in-law; Oronzo Mirando Martella and Anna Alfonsina “Annasina” Russo. The amazing spread of food included bread with Pietro’s olive oil, Pietro’s aglianico wine, pasta, rabbit, potatoes, broiled peppers, beans and sausage, lamb and fruit. We ate and enjoyed each other’s company until after midnight.
