Fattoria La Rivolta

2024 Taburno Falanghina del Sannio DOC

This Falanghina is one of the most aromatic renderings I’ve ever encountered of this always charming variety. My first inhale was instant transport to those weirdly dense apple juices you’d get from McDonald’s as a kid, the ones you stabbed your straw through. Perhaps it was a memory of apple juice when it was still exotic, and my senses had the heightened quality of youth. And then the wine opened up into this distinctive canary melon and fresh cucumber thing. It was one of those moments in wine you’re always hankering for. And the palate confirmed the pleasure, a finely balanced affair with one foot in interest and another foot in thirst-quenching immediacy. Tasting it side by side with the vintage before it, I found it had already developed the additional charms of watermelon and pineapple. It makes sense that this is Paolo's main wine, the one that keeps the lights on, the one they make the most of (~65,000 bottles per year), and with all the TLC going into these vineyards (organic since 98!) you can see how well these vines reward the extra attention.

"The nose swirls with aromas of pineapple, lemon, lime, toasted almond and honeydew. The palate is consistent, with salted almonds and a mix of sweet and sour citrus over touches of sweet melon and tropical fruit, but a firmly bitter backbone provides good balance." — Danielle Callegari, Wine Enthusiast

*This cuvée is widely touted as the best exemplar of this particular breed of Falanghina. It was recently discovered to be genetically distinct from the many coastal appellations' examples of Falanghina. In other words, these are not two biotypes; these are two varieties entirely. The coastal Falanghina is now called Falanghina Flegrea, while the Sannio / Taburno / Benevento variety (for which Fattoria La Rivolta carries the flag) is now being called Falanghina Beneventana.