If you think that wine is just an alcoholic drink, you are very wrong. Wine is art, culture, history, tradition, passion. And if there is a region that knows how to express all this with its wines, it is Irpinia.
Irpinia is an area of the Campania Apennines, north-east of the province of Avellino, where the climate is cool and the soil they are volcanic and calcareous. Here three native vines have been cultivated for centuries which have given rise to three world-famous DOCG wines: Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo and Taurasi.
Fiano di Avellino is a dry, elegant and fragrant white wine, reminiscent of the apple, pear, honey and hazelnut. Greco di Tufo is a dry, mineral and aromatic white wine, which evokes citrus fruit, peach, grass and flint. Taurasi is a full-bodied, intense and complex red wine, which recalls cherry, plum, tobacco and liquorice.
These wines are the fruit of an ancient tradition, which has its roots in the era of the Samnites, the Romans, the Lombards, Normans, Angevins, Aragonese, Spanish, Bourbons, Savoy. A tradition that has resisted wars, invasions, earthquakes and crises. A tradition that has been able to innovate and renew itself, thanks to the work of winemakers, oenologists, researchers, entrepreneurs.
But Irpinia is also the land of wolves, the symbolic animals of this region, which inspired its name (Irpinia derives from Oscan “hirpus”, meaning wolf). Wolves are wild and noble creatures, strong and free, who live in harmony with nature and with their pack. So are the people of Irpinia, proud and generous, tenacious and loyal people, who love their land and their culture.
It is a region to be discovered and savoured, with its landscapes, its monuments, its typical products, its its wines. Wines that tell stories of the past and present, of effort and joy, of earth and sky. Wines that are poetry in a bottle.
Come and discover this breathtaking territory – I call it “a region within the region” – on one of the two private tours available.
See you soon,
Andrea
NWT