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Saturday, July 9, 2022

The Falanghina cultivar: At home in Campania

Ian D'Agata (Native Wine Grapes of Italy) has tagged the Falanghina variety as "... one of the greatest success stories in Italian wine of the last thirty years ..." in that it has "... managed to break through barriers in Italy, as experts and beginners alike look for it in stores and on restaurant wine lists ..." As was the case for Phoenix-like Italian varieties such as Schiopettino and Timorasso, Falanghina was on the brink of extinction before being rescued by Leonard Mustili and "a few other local growers and producers" in the early 1970s.

The Falanghia variety is grown in Molise, Puglia, and Abruzzo but Campania -- and the region's Benevento province -- is its home. It is the most widely planted variety in Campania, with its 3000 ha representing 15% of the region's plantings. The grape is grown in all five of Campania's provinces but Benevento is king of the hill with 80% of the total plantings.

Falanghina's name, according to D'Agata, derives from the Latin falange (phalanx) due to its vine-support poles resembling the typical formation of the ancient Roman legions. Key characteristics of the variety are shown in the chart below.


The chart following shows the DOC Falanghina production zones while the one immediately following shows the composition of the wines.



As shown in the preceding chart, Falanghina is a versatile variety, supporting sparkling, still, and sweet styles and blends or varietal wines in each of the foregoing cases. Beginning in 2011, four of the areas within Sannio DOC were designated as subzones and wines made therein can so identify on the labels: Guardia Sanframondi (Guardiolo), Sant'Agata dei Goti, Solopaca, and Taburno.

Gambero Rosso describes the Falanghina wine as "fine and floral with a citrusy character and balanced flavor." It has been elsewhere described as a "bright, fresh, and aromatically complex white wine." D'Agata sees the Beneventano genotype as more structured and floral and with higher alcohol than its Flegrea counterpart. The latter, on the other hand, exhibits "flavors and aromas of unripe peach, Golden Delicious apple, apricot kernel, and cherry pit," Both genotypes are high in acid and carry a chlorophyll note.

Gamberorosso has stipulated the evolutionary path of Falanghina wines as follows:
  • Six months after harvest, the wine exhibits strong notes of banana, apple, and pineapple with secondary floral, apricot, and peach notes.
  • After 18 months, the wine has a "more balanced aromatic profile" with the fermentation notes giving way to more varietal notes and the wine becoming more complex and aromatically specific.
Most of the Falanghina wine production in Sannio falls within the domain of four large cooperatives but there are some excellent independent producers plying their trade within the zone. The cooperatives are La Guardiense, Solopaca, Taburno, and Vigna Sannite. The most important independent producers are Fontanavecchia, Terre Stregate Winery, Masseria Vendetti, and Masseria Vigne Vecchi.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

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