Runello & Campania

History

Campania has been called "the happy land" - Campania felix. The region is one of the oldest wine regions in Italy. There is evidence that viticulture has taken place here since the 12th century BC. Campania is connected to the region's capital, Naples, and is influenced by several ancient empires that have ruled the area, ranging from the Greeks and Romans to the Byzantines. Some of the wines are legendary with their own myths and stories.

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2,000 years ago, the Greeks colonized the area and set out the first plants in southern Italy. Philosophers and scholars from both antiquity and the Renaissance praised wine from Campania. That it was a "happy" country came from the favorable climate with a good mix of both sun and rain. is one of the oldest wine regions in Italy. There is evidence that viticulture has taken place here since the 12th century BC. Campania is connected to the region's capital, Naples, and is influenced by several ancient empires that have ruled the area, ranging from the Greeks and Romans to the Byzantines. Some of the wines are legendary with their own myths and stories.

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Grape varieties and wine types

The central white wine grapes in Campania are fiano, falanghina, and greco. The two most central Redwine grapes are aglianico and piedirosso. They are all ancient grape varieties that have been cultivated in Campania since Roman times.

Today's white wines are more fruity and younger in taste than the traditional wines from the area, and with a lot of aroma. The red wines come primarily from Aglianico and have a strong character that improves with aging.

The grapes in Campania vary from Falanghina, which was already legendary in Roman times, to Greco (Greco di Tufo), Fiano (Fiano di Avellino), Piedirossi (which was already used in ancient Pompeii) and Aglianico (with Taurasi as the best wines). In addition, there are a number of local variants.

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Climate and Soil

The fact that Campania is praised as a wine eldorado comes, among other things, from the varied climate, thanks to lots of sun, dry, hot summers and correspondingly mild winters, a long season and a soil that is rich in fertile volcanic ash. The vineyards total approximately 100,000 hectares.

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Topography

The cooler winds that blow in from the Tyrrhenian Sea towards the Apennines moderate the heat and also contribute to the grapes becoming slightly acidic. At the same time, the climate creates variations due to more precipitation in the mountain areas than out on the coast. For the grapes that come from the interior, this means more flavor, while they are milder along the coast.

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Subareas

The wines of Campania are as varied as the landscape, from the rolling hills of Avellino and Benevento to the steep, terraced vineyards along the Amalfi Coast, the islands of Capri and Ischia to the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.

Wine classifications

After the new generation of producers made the transition, Campania today has 20 DOC and DOCG zones. The first wine to be DOCG classified in southern Italy was Taurasis (1993). In total, Campania has 17 DOC wines and 3 DOCG wines (Greco di Tufi, Taurasi and Fiano di Avelino)