The wonderful diversity and typicality of the native Campania vines
The consolidation of an ambitious project of young Irpinia in love with their land and who work with one goal: to tell the wine and Campania with a thousand faces, far from commercial logic and the ‘cover’. Quality, rigor, competence, hope and humility are the keywords. My ‘journey’, barely fifty kilometers away, starts leaving the Vesuvian towns of Torre del Greco and Torre Annunziata behind me, to reach Castellammare di Stabia and from there go up through part of the Regional Park of the Lattari Mountains which includes 27 municipalities. both, mountain and coastal. A landscape where biodiversity is queen. The mind returns to the last time I was in Agerola: a comedian! I had a broken leg (work accident) and was in a wheelchair. I was assigned the beautiful and panoramic Hotel Le Rocce in Agerola, the seat of Campania Stories 2013.
Upon my arrival I found myself in front of a remarkable series of stairs, which are completely wheelchair accessible. J Four strong young men lifted me up to my room, ‘tatà’, the chair did not pass through the door! So the great mayor poet and philosopher, of Furore, Raffaele Ferraioli, sponsor of Campania Stories, found me a more suitable accommodation.
Today, I climb the stairs on my legs and immediately settle into the large and bright tasting room organized by Miriade Partners. I am given an exhaustive booklet with program, participating companies and all the useful tools to outline a map of Campania white wines. The tasting has two ways: blind or with the wine list for a total of 61 samples, divided by type and area. The list, inevitably, leads me to make some considerations on the regional system of denominations, somewhat twisted and, above all, difficult to understand for foreigners, who are already struggling to identify Campania outside of Capri, Amalfi, Positano and Sorrento. I opt for the open list and I give my choices to the sommelier (impeccable room service, edited by Ais Campania).