This past April I went on a press trip to Campania to attend Campania Stories. The trip was fascinating and we tasted many wines. This week I am going to attempt to share my impressions of this wonderful region and the interesting grapes and producers I met while there.

Campania has the following provinces: Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Salerno and the capital city of Naples. There are 10 areas where wines are made and that are considered macro-viticultural areas. Today I am writing about the areas in the province of Caserta. The first is the Alto Casertano which includes Falerno del Massico DOP, Galluccio and the Roccamonfina IGP. Two important elements in the topography of this area are the Massico Mountain and the Roccamonfina volcano. These wines are often made from Aglianico, Piedirosso and Primitivo, among other grapes. They also have Falanghina for the whites.

The second area is called the Colline Caiatine-Terre del Volturno which is in the southwestern area of Caserta. Here one can find Asprinio d’Aversa also called Aversa and Casavecchia di Pontelatone, both DOP wines. There is also a Terre di Volturno IG denomination which includes wines made with Pallagrello Bianco and Pallagrello Nero as well as Aglianico and Falanghina. The topography includes the Aversana plain and the river Volturno.

The first night of the event we tasted wines made from these varieties. Those that interested me the most were Pallagrello Bianco and Pallagrello Nero. I have tasted wines from Aversa as well that I enjoyed a lot. I wrote this post on Asprinio many years ago. Tomorrow I will write about some of the specific wines I enjoyed from these varieties.

Caserta is a very interesting city and one that I would have liked to walk around in a bit more. The Reggia di Caserta, their version of Versailles was incredible.