23 June 2022

The Sorbo Serpico winery boasts a unique, rich and complex viticultural heritage

The Sorbo Serpico winery boasts a unique, rich and complex viticultural heritage.

Feudi di San Gregorio’s almost 300 hectares are divided into more than 800 small vineyards scattered among woods, ancient olive trees and aromatic herbs and situated on slopes between 350 and 700 m asl. Each plot is characterized by a specific type of soil, climate, exposure and vine training, and the plants also vary in age. Each vine is attentively taken care of, and operations are aimed to preserve the grapes’ balance and quality. In the cellar, each variety undergoes separate vinification processes.

The largely volcanic and sandy soils have kept the vines safe from the phylloxera epidemic of 1910, allowing Irpinia to become one of the numerous cradles of the new European viticulture. Enhancing the great native varieties of Campania like Fiano, Greco and Aglianico in Irpinia, and Falanghina in Sannio, means expressing this multifaceted complexity through wines (characterized by freshness, minerality and intensity) distinguished by the organoleptic characteristics of each variety. Today, new plants are placed side by side with the oldest vineyards, creating an extraordinary mosaic that always brings out the territory’s personality.

-- Irpinia and the distribution of the main denominations --

GRECO DI TUFO

Feudi is the champion of Greco di Tufo, Irpinia’s leading white wine and one of the most important in Italy. The variety originated from Greece and is considered one of the finest indigenous varieties of Campania: cultivation of Greco di Tufo on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius is documented to date back to as early as 1st century BC. Among the native varieties of Irpinia, Greco di Tufo is the only one that does not grow elsewhere due to its strong bond with the winegrowing area of Tufo. Greco grapes harvested in October yield a wine of great personality and longevity. Despite changes of the climate, the chalky soils of Tufo endow the wine with distinct minerality, freshness and length, allowing Greco to measure up to outstanding white wines from all over the world. The Feudi di San Gregorio Group is the largest Italian producer of Greco di Tufo, promoting the variety for more than 30 years and offering different interpretations (Goleto, Greco di Tufo Riserva named after the homonymous 12th century abbey; Cutizzi, one of the most expressive Greco vineyards; as well as DUBL+, a Metodo Classico wine made from this versatile variety). 

Greco vineyards, strongly linked to the small wine-growing area of Tufo, are at the center of the sustainability path of Feudi di San Gregorio (from June 2022 B Corp), with protocols aimed at safeguarding the beauty of the landscape and avoiding the abandonment by winegrowers who have been cultivating them for generations. A priceless heritage to be preserved.

-- Cutizzi, Greco di Tufo Docg --

AGLIANICO

Aglianico is Southern Italy’s most important red grape. The variety seems to have been introduced by the Greeks around the VI-VII century BC during the colonization of the Tyrrhenian coasts, hence the name Ellenico, which later became Aglianico. The Gruppo Tenute Capaldo – Feudi di San Gregorio vinifies all the expressions and nuances of Aglianico, preserving and enhancing the grape through research and zoning projects such as FeudiStudi, the Basilisco crus as well as the Patriarchi project carried out within the over a hundred year old pre-phylloxera vineyard in Taurasi: the latter enabled the reconstruction of Aglianico’s history and the preservation of ancient samples. The most interesting vines have been classified and reproduced, allowing them to thrive in new plantings. The group offers Aglianico-based products that bring out the grape’s rich expressions: Feudi produces Taurasi and Piano di Montevergine (Taurasi Riserva) as well as Serpico, which comes from centenary vines; Basilisco from Vulture (Aglianico del Vulture Superiore); DUBL (which has been experimenting with a Metodo Classico Rosé made from Aglianico grapes for 15 years); and Gulielmus, the latest single-estate wine by Tenute Capaldo, named after the family leading Feudi di San Gregorio.

FIANO DI AVELLINO

An ancient variety cultivated in Campania, in the province of Avellino, in an area formerly known as Apia, which inspired the name with which the Romans called Fiano: Vitis Apiana. The Fiano di Avellino denomination is the largest among the three Irpinia DOCGs, but it has the smallest vineyard area. It is a predominantly hilly territory enclosed between two Apennine ranges (the Partenio and Avella Mountains to the west; the Picentini Mountains to the southeast) and crossed by the Sabato and Calore rivers. This variegated environment bring about a high variety of conditions even within the same section: this has led to an extreme viticultural fragmentation that is even more intense compared to the Taurasi and Greco di Tufo production areas. There are only a handful of densely planted areas, while scattered parcels abound: these are situated on plateaus and gentle slopes as well as on steep ridges and craggy foothills. The result is a lustrous, colorful and multifaceted selection of wines, thanks to Fiano’s ability to read and convey the numerous expressions of the different areas based on the various altitudes, types of soil and exposure. Some remarkable examples are Campanaro (a Riserva aged in tonneau for about 6 months); Pietracalda (aged for 4-5 months in stainless steel with batonnage) and Fiano di Avellino, a classic expression of the vine that exclusively ages in stainless steel.

FALANGHINA AND CODA DI VOLPE, THE GRAPES OF LACRYMA CHRISTI

Campania’s most famous white wine, Lacryma Christi, is made from Falanghina and Coda di Volpe grapes, and is the authentic expression of the Campania terroir. Falanghina, from the Greek word phalangos (poles that are planted in the ground to sustain the shoots), has long lived in the darkness. It is thought to have even been cultivated since the Roman era, but it has been recognized as one of the main Campania wines only in the last twenty years – also thanks to Feudi di San Gregorio. Coda di Volpe, locally known as “Caprettone”, has even more ancient origins: it may have originated from cuttings brought by Greeks from Euboea during the first colonization of the coasts of Naples. The name caudas vulpium appears in Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia and recalls the resemblance of the bunches to a fox’s tail: a curve in the high part of the bunch has always been its distinctive trait. Coda di Volpe is used as a complementary variety in Fiano di Avellino as well as in Greco di Tufo, if need be. The blend with Falanghina gives rise to Lacryma Christi, vinified by Feudi di San Gregorio into an iconic label: straw yellow in color, revealing fresh aromas of white fruits and typical notes of citrus peel. A wine characterized by an exceptional aromatic persistence, distinguished by its delicacy and mineral notes (endowed by the volcanic soils on which the grapes grow).