Region: Campania, Italy

Varietal: 100% Falanghina

Tasting notes:  Beautiful, bright acidity hits the palate in alternating waves of fresh citrus and crisp green pear. Some lovely minerality, like wet stone, starts to cut through the acid to leave a clean and refreshing impression. This is medium bodied with some nice weight and texture in the mid-palate. A lovely white from Campania!

Producer:  At the foothills of the Caiatini Mountains in the province of Caserta, the Alois family originally developed a reputation as quality silk producers in the 1800s during the reign of the Bourbon King of Naples, Ferdinand IV. The family’s fabric adorns famous walls around the world including the Italian Parliament, the White House and the Louvre Museum.   In 1992, Michele and his son Massimo Alois partnered up with the University of Naples in a quest to rediscover the ancient varieties of the Romans and Bourbons popular during the Bourbon era of Southern Italy in the 1800s. They grafted pre-phylloxera cuttings of Casavecchia, Pallagrello Nero and Pallagrello Bianco onto the estate’s wild rootstocks and ultimately revived the popularity of these quasi forgotten varieties.

Vineyard and Winemaking:  The Alois Estate is located northeast of Naples in an Amphitheater-like setting of rolling hills near the inactive volcano of Roccamonfina and the Matese Mountains. The farming practices of the Alois family are not yet organically certified but 100% sustainable. The bottling of sustainably-farmed Falanghina was sourced from volcanic soils of the Alois Estate vineyards, within the Campania IGT. Once ripened, the grapes were hand-harvested and fermented in stainless steel to preserve this freshness. The fermentation process takes place on the lees for 30 days followed by malolactic fermentation in stainless steel.