Giorgio greeted us, umbrella in hand, a smile from ear to ear. “Welcome to Villa Matilde!” Rain wasn’t dampening anyone’s spirits on this soggy Saturday. We tasted Fiano and Aglianico, savored delicious bite-sized appetizers, feasted on cici and pasta soup with fresh bread and olive oil while the crackling fire warmed us. What a fine way to spend a Saturday. Well, that was the plan anyway.
I write this from Benevento, where it has been snowing since yesterday. I’m hearing reports that this is the biggest snowstorm in 54 years. “At least it won’t snow in Naples,” we were told. Ah, I just checked the forecast and it is indeed snowing in Naples. Our visit to Villa Matilde was scheduled for today, but the snow threw a monkey wrench into all our plans. The three wineries we were supposed to visit? We’ll save those for another day. I will give my highest compliments to Daniela Mastroberardino, president of Moviemiento Tourismo e Vino Campania and owner of Terradoro Winery for her ability to adjust plans on the turn of a dime. Villa Matilde accommodated us on next to no notice a day early. The experience I described earlier indeed happened and the Villa Matilde staff could not have been more attentive and gracious.
Campania. We’re in the land of Falanghina, Fiano, Greco and Aglianico. After our lunch a lucky few joined Giorgio for a tank tasting of Greco, Fiano and Aglianco Rosé. We bade our farewells and boarded the bus again bound for Benevento. Did I mention it was snowing in Benevento, our next destination. Weary travelers, we arrived via treacherous roads and befuddled drivers at the beautiful Hotel il Molino. Chef Angelo D’Amico prepared a marvelous dinner for us. Lucky for us, due to the unrelenting snow, we had the opportunity to spend some one on one time with him the following morning.
We awoke to find it still snowing. Daniela scrambled and after a brief presentation on Campania, we followed Chef Angelo into the kitchen for a hands on cooking demo. He led us through the preparation of two dishes: one a potato and pasta soup, the other a dish laden with Campanian vegetables. You’ll find a video of us in the kitchen and the recipes, loosely translated from Italian. The recipes seem complex, but trust me, he had both these dishes finished in less than ten minutes and they were scrumptious. Fresh and local makes such a difference.
Early afternoon the sun broke through the glooms and began to melt the snow. We climbed aboard the bus and headed towards naples with one stop left: Cantine Grotta Del Sole. We met below the winery near the lakeside vineyards and visited with Gilda Martusciello, whose family has owned the winery for four generations. Their vineyards are planted in four areas: Phlegraen, the Sorento Peninsula, Irpina and Vesuvius and they grow and produce Falanghina, Piedirosso, Gragnano, Greco, Aglianico and other varietals. We sat with Gilda and members of her family while we watched pictures and heard the story of their winery while tasting four of their wines.
We said our goodbyes and boarded the bus one final time as we made our way to Naples. The International Wine Tourism Conference 2012 behind us, we look forward to IWINETC 2013 in Zagreb, Croatia.
Recipes: (more complicated sounding than they are to make)
PASTA AND POTATOES WITH TOMATO BASKET AND ANCHOVY DRIPPING:
ingredients for 4 people:
2 dark potatoes
oil of olive
1 spoon of chopped and browned onion
garlic
30 g of black pig
320 g of mixed pasta
vegetable soup
cetara anchovy dripping
1 fillet of anchovy
Laticauda pecorino cheese
How to prepare the base:
In a large saucepan heat oil with onion, mashed garlic, pig and tomatoes.
Let them cook for about 3 minutes at high fire. Add chopped potatoes and let them brown for a few minutes. Add vegetable soup and let it dry.
Do it as many times as potatoes need to rupture.
Add other spoons of soup and let the pasta cook in it for 7/8 minutes stirring continuously.
Prepare dishes adding a handful of grated pecorino cheese.
Vegetable dish:
50 GRAMS EACH OF THESE CLEANED AND WASHED VEGETABLE:
PUMPKIN
POTATO
SICILIAN BROCCOLI
ROMAN BROCCOLI
CAULIFLOWER
1 CLOVE OF GARLIC
1 SPOON OF CHOPPED ONION
200 GRAMS OF STALE BREAD
VEGETABLE SOUP
GRATED CACIOCAVALLO
HOW TO PREPARE:
CHOP VEGETABLES AND SCALD INTO BOILED AND SALAD WATER FOR 3 MINUTES
IN A WIDE SAUCEPAN HEAT OIL WITH GARLIC AND ONION.
COOK THEM FOR A FEW MINUTES AT HIGH FIRE, ADD VEGETABLES AND LET UNTIL LIGHTLY BROWNED.
ADD THE STALE BREAD AND A CUP OF SOUP. LET ALL COOK FOR A FEW MINUTES.
ADD A HANDFUL OF PEPPER AND THE CACIOCAVALLO GRATED.
Tom Plant, http://wineormous.com
Here is my report of our tasting at Villa Matilde winery.
Report, Fam Trip day 7, February 3rd a.m. 2012
Today, the second to the last day of our trip to Campania, started with a stormy fall of showers of wet snow and rain. The unusually heavy snowfall in the hills and mountains over the night had led to the closure of the roads to the wineries we were supposed to visit, and forced our tour guides to change our itinerary. Instead of visiting three wineries in the snow-blocked hills we were able to visit one winery nearer to the sea, Villa Matilde. My expectations were high, since this winery got a complimentary mention by Jancis Robinson in Hugh Johnson’s Wine Atlas. My expectations were fully met: all the wines were of a very high standard.
Our group was greeted by Giorgio Imparato under a huge umbrella – certainly a rather exceptional kind of reception for Villa Matilde’s export manager! The tasting was tutored by him. Giorgio obviously enjoyed his role as speaker to an audience. He pointed out that some of Villa Matilde’s vineyards are located in Falerno, a wine growing area mentioned already in the works of Plinius and other Roman writers.
During our lively tasting, the wines were accompanied by delicious home-made canapés. Our group applauded the two ladies from the kitchen, this also for the simple but tasty lunch. Shortly before our departure, one of the owners of the winery, Salvatore Avallone, also joined our group.
We were offered the tasting of white wines made from the indigenous Falanghina grape, coming from two different wine growing areas, to demonstrate the expression of the respective terroires. One of the terroires is sandy soil near the sea, the other is in the hills on mineral-rich volcanic soil. The 2010 sample from the sandy soil was crispy and fresh, not only because of its youth, but also due to its terroire. The grapes of the other sample, the 2007 vintage, had grown on the volcanic soil near the Massico hill. It had an intensive and complex nose, was rich on the palate without being fat, had mineral notes on the long finish, and despite its 5 years of age benefitted from contact with the air in the glass. This wine is being sold only after 3 to 4 years of bottle ageing, still having a potential to improve in the bottle. Its label carries the historic name of this area of production, “Falerno”, where the father of the present owners had devoted his lifetime to the renaissance of growing the indigenous varieties Falanghina, Aglianico and Piedirosso. What a pleasant surprise that not only the Avallone family, owners of Villa Matilde, but all the wine producers visited in Campania, stay away from planting Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, that Chardonnay can be found here only in rare cases, and that the great majority of the wine growers work organically, including the Avallone family.
All Villa Matilde’s red wines tasted came from volcanic soils in the hills, either 100% Aglianico, or as a blend of 80% Aglianico and 20% Piedirosso. We had wines of the 2007, 2005 and even 2001 vintages. Similar to another 2001 tasted in a previously visited winery, Matilda’s 11 years old wine was full of vitality and youth, had lost only some of its fruit, and did not show any sign of age. Only once, at a later tasting in another winery, did we encounter a 2001 Aglianico that had reached the summit of its development. All the reds from Villa Matilde’s winery we tasted were well made wines, of a typical Italian style with a lot of fruit in nose and on palate, and with distinct fruit tannins. Like practically all the other reds from Campania, any wood tannins were soft and round, “fondé” as the French would say. Noteworthy were the vintage differences for the reds as well as for the whites.
Speaking about vintages, it may be advisable to stay away from wines of the 2008 vintage which was a difficult year. Only few wine makers were able to produce wines as good as other vintages. This explains why our group, during the entire tour, got only one 2008 wine to taste in contrast to the multitude of wines from the other years.
The Villa Matilde tasting ended with an excellent 2007 Falenghina Passito. It was for many members of our group perhaps the best Passito of the trip: well balanced, i.e. not too sweet and good acidity, and most importantly extremely clean thanks to the absence of botrytis.
As in all the other wineries visited previously in Umbria and now in Campania, the Reserva wines if not all wines were served in glassware of Riedel standard, such as Schott or Spiegelau, the latter at Villa Matilde. This cannot be said about the wineries in other wine growing countries where sometimes unsuitable glasses impair the tasting of complex wines.
Jochen Erler