Luigi Moio farms a small estate in Campania and makes this from a single grape, Greco, in a village that has grown it for centuries. The Giallo d'Arles is his Greco di Tufo, and this bottle is a magnum, twice the usual size, which is how the wine is often kept in the cellars of the south.
- Greco, the white grape of Greco di Tufo.
- Greco di Tufo DOCG, Campania, southern Italy.
- 2017 vintage, now with bottle age.
- Dry, medium body, high acidity, low tannin.
- 13.5% ABV, 1.5L magnum.
How it is made
Greco di Tufo is one of Italy's small number of white DOCGs, and the rules are strict about the grape and the ground: Greco grown on the volcanic tufo and clay hills around the village of Tufo, in the province of Avellino. The grape is thick-skinned for a white, which is part of why it holds its acidity and takes bottle age better than most southern whites.
How it tastes
White peach and citrus at the front, then almond and a flinty, mineral edge that comes straight off the volcanic soil. The acidity is high and stays high, so it reads taut rather than soft, and the finish is dry and long. Five years in bottle has rounded the fruit without flattening the structure.
Where it comes from
The Irpinia hills inland from Naples, a landscape of chestnut woods and vineyards planted on volcanic tufo. Greco has been grown here since at least the Roman period, and the village of Tufo gives the appellation its name.
Good to know
A magnum is not just a bigger bottle. The ratio of wine to oxygen is lower, so the wine inside matures more slowly than the same wine in a standard bottle, which is why large formats are the ones cellars hold onto.
