Luigi Moio built this wine from three Campanian grapes that rarely share a bottle. Fiano, Greco and Falanghina, grown on the hills inland from the Tyrrhenian coast, blended into a single dry white by Quintodecimo. The 2018 vintage carries high acidity and medium body at 13.5% alcohol.
- Fiano, Greco and Falanghina, three Campanian white grapes.
- Campania, southern Italy, inland from the coast.
- 2018, a vintage that held its acidity.
- Dry, medium-bodied, 13.5% alcohol.
- 750ml bottle.
How it is made
Fiano, Greco and Falanghina are all native to Campania, and all three are usually bottled on their own. Fiano brings weight and a waxy texture. Greco brings citrus and a bitter almond edge. Falanghina brings the sharper, greener note and the salt. Blending them is not traditional in the region, and it is not easy: each grape ripens at a different moment, so the picking is spread across weeks rather than days.
How it tastes
White peach and citrus zest first, then almond and wet stone. The finish is saline, which is the Campanian hills showing through. Acidity is high, tannin is low, and the body sits in the middle. It holds together as one wine rather than three grapes arguing.
Good to know
Campania's white grapes grow on volcanic and limestone soils, and the salt in the finish comes from vineyards close enough to the sea to catch its air. Fiano is the oldest of the three, documented in the region since Roman times, and it was nearly abandoned in the twentieth century before growers brought it back.
Where it comes from
Quintodecimo is based in Mirabella Eclano, in the Irpinia hills of Campania, east of Naples. The region grows more white grapes than its reds suggest, and the inland hills give the wines a cooler, more structured frame than the coastal strip. Luigi Moio is a winemaker and academic who has spent his career on the whites of southern Italy.
