Flight School

It has been a while since we touched on a new grape variety! Hell, my own posting scheduling has been irregular as I enjoy as much of the summer as I can before it leaves us for another year. Despite my slacking, I do have another installment of Fun To Say, Fun To Drink to share with you, and today's topic touches on another grape that carries some personal significance.

With fewer gray hairs and wrinkles, here I am pouring some killer Italian Pinot Noir at a Vias Imports tasting, ca. 2010.

Waaaay back in the day when I was looking to break into the alcohol industry, I saw an opportunity to help out at a trade show for an Italian wine importer called Vias Imports. As I was in the throes of studying wine, I thought, "could there be a better way to learn about Italian wines than to jump in and pour wines at a table?" The answer was an easy "yes" for me, so I went to New York City's Marriott Marquis. After a five-hour blitz of buyers, retailers, restauranteurs, and other "who's who" types of the beverage industry, I not only survived busted corks (yes, this happened on the first pull of a new wine), and hundreds of glasses shoved in front of me, I had successfully learned a good dozen of native Italian grape varieties.

As a thank you from Vias, they sent me on me way with some money and six bottles of wine! Hey, not a bad gig! Two of the bottles from their portfolio came from a producer Terredora di Paolo, which included a bottle of Aglianico and a bottle of white wine called Falanghina [fah-lahn-GHEE-nah].

Falanghina was not one of the varieties I had worked with that day, but I was excited to taste it. Southern Italy is generally hot during peak growing season, so I understood how red wine grapes would thrive in the Campania region. But white grapes? Would the climate be too harsh? Would the acidity and freshness just get baked out of the grapes in the vineyards? Remember...this was a period of time when I knew next to nothing about the wine grapes of the world.

As it turns out, I learned that Falanghina traces its ancestry to Greece (hence why this grape is sometimes called "Falanghina Greco"), where it is plenty hot out in the vineyards and evolved to retain acidity in the warmth. When Falanghina was brought to Southern Italy roughly 1,600 years ago, it was brought to Campania, where it was very successful alongside other white varieties such as Greco (different from Falanghina Greco) and Fiano. Later, it was discovered that Falanghina thrived in the cool microclimates within the hills of Campania. Here is where Falanghina showed its greatest potential, giving fragrant, pine-scented wines with citrus and pineapple fruit flavors...all balanced by a backbone of zesty acidity.

I fell in love with this grape right away. I couldn't stop recommending this to anyone who would listen to me. Falanghina is one of those wines that is impossible to stop smelling when you aren't drinking it. It's great with seafood, perhaps even linguini with clams or crab meat, or just a warm summer night.

Today, I thank Vias Imports for introducing me to Falanghina by sharing a flight of three Falanghina wines with you below, all of which your retailer should have access to. Don't see it on the shelf? Ask them to order it for you! These are all worth seeking out.

Terredora di Paolo Campania Falanghina ($16): My benchmark wine for getting to know this grape. Those pineapple notes I mentioned above really come through in this with lemon zest and rosemary on the nose. My personal favorite example, but...

Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina del Sannio ($17): This is damn good in its own right, showcasing the sub-region of Sannio within Campania. This has more of an apricot and white peach flavor with white flowers on the nose. This wine also ages on the lees of 5 months, giving the wine a creaminess that plays nicely with the acidity.

Mastroberardino Falanghina del Sannio ($18): Well-known for its long-lived red wines made from Aglianico in the Taurasi region, this producer's Falanghina shows bold citrusy flavor and a blend of soft green herbs, with a stony/earthy character. A tasty way to welcome party guests!