One cannot imagine a better setting for my first meeting with Raffaele Tagliafierro, a 29 years old winemaker from Tramonti, a mountain municipality of the Amalfi Coast.

It was last August, at an event organised by Associazione Pabulum: an idea by Dr. Katia Tarantino, a young nutritionist living in Avellino, who promotes a gourmet, yet healthy way of approaching food and drinks.

We spent the evening on the rooftop of a luxury hotel in Ravello, so, I have to admit, I was in a particularly good mood.

Mr.Tagliafierro explained me the viticulture in Tramonti. Vineyards mostly on terraced slopes of Monti Lattari at an altitude between 300 and 500 mt.

Monti Lattari are a range separated from the Appenines, running in a East to West direction on the whole Sorrento’s Peninsula: Amalfi Coast (listed by UNESCO) is on the Southern side of the range. Their are made of sedimentary rock, particularly rich in calcium (limestone and dolomite), which rose from the sea during the Tertiary Era, like the Alps, Appenines, Pyrenees, Himalaya and so on. There is a peculiarity though: their proximity to Mt.Vesuvius, so they receive the pyroclastic fallout of its eruptions. This means that, particularly in Tramonti, the vines grow on a volcanic soil made of lapil. A “lapil” is a pebblestone (you can see one held by my fingers in the cover) of eruptive origin, made of pumice, which is lighter than water. The black colour is given by the humus: in fact pumice is rather pale. In this picture you can appreciate the true colour of pumice.

In Tramonti (the name means “between the mountains“, not “sunsets”) there is very little, if any, clay, making impossible for phylloxera larvae to infestate the rootstocks.

That’s the reason why so many very old vines are still productive. Before Christmas I visited the winery This Tintore plant is at least 2.5 centuries old.

The varieties cultivated by Cantina Tagliafierro are, for the whites, falanghina, pepella, biancazita, for the reds, piedirosso and tintore.

Biancazita is, in fact, a local clone of falanghina, Mr. Tagliafierro calls “falanghina” only the vines identical to those of Sannio.

As for piedirosso (aka “per’e palumm’) here we have probably an endemic subvariety, peculiar of Costa d’Amalfi)

Tintore I think can be found only in Costa d’Amalfi. It was thought to be a clone of Aglianico, until the genetical studies proved that it’s a variety on its own. Probably the reason of this old mistake is the fact that it is late-ripening, it gives a dark coloured and tannic wine, it requires a long ageing before being enjoyable as monovarietal.

Here you can see white varieties in a recently planted vineyard. The traditional cultivation is called “3×3″. The stems are all 3 meters distant from one another, it’s a system similar to Irpinia‘s “Tenda Avellinese”. The cultivation is organic, last year was, officially, the first of conversion , but, in fact, Mr. Raffaele has always managed his vineyards organic

After the walk in the vineyards, their are very near to the winery, we went to the cellar for the tasting.

Tagliafierro makes four wines, a white, a rosé, two reds, all are blends, only one is aged in oak: 500 lt. tonneaux.

The vinification and bottling are made without addition of sulphites, yeasts are selected, so it will take long before we can talk about “organic” or “natural” wine. The conversion, for the time being, is meant for the farming, not winemaking.

The tasting notes are only referred to the unoaked wines, the Riserva was nearly sold out, so a t the end I’ll write down the impressions I had last summer.

TREDICI 2018 white DOC COSTA D’AMALFI

A coupage of Falanghina, Pepella and Biancazita, the Falanghina being prevalent.

EYE: straw/gold

NOSE: initially white fruit (pear, peach), after a couple of minutes in the glass you sense also the yellow peach, with, gradually but rapidly, becomes dominant.

PALATE: again the yellow peach, however the main feature here is the saltiness, also distinctive notes of aromatic herbs, particularly sage. Acidity, in my opinion, perfect, great persistence. For me a wonderful white.

THESAURI 2018: rosé DOC COSTA D’AMALFI

A coupage (50/50) Piedirosso and Tintore

EYE: Salmon Pink (more like a smoked fillet than the flesh of the cooked fish)

NOSE: red fruit (sour and red cherry), pronounced but not intrusive.

PALATE: great saltiness, to the cherry notes add the pomegranate (that’s Tintore), a bit of white pepper (Piedirosso). Acidity and persistence excellent.

I find it a dreamlike rosé, one of the best produced in Italy, absolutely enjoyable on its own (a l’apéritif), and with a broad variety of dishes, for instance last summer I had a lovely blue fin tuna steak in Salerno, a wine like this one would have been a perfect match.

The last wine tasted at the cellar was:

TRAMUNTE 2016 red DOC COSTA D’AMALFi

A 50/50 coupage of Tintore and Piedirosso. Both harvested during the second half of October, the Tintore slightly before the Piedirosso since it has a more delicate skin (btw if you eat a baie of Piedirosso it feels crunchy, even more than Prokupac).

It was 18 months on fine lees. Just a reminder: no wood ageing.

EYE: dark purple

NOSE: great complexity, fruity, red currant, raspberry, red cherry, also spicy, black pepper, cloves.

PALATE: it shows an important structure, spiciness prevails on the fruit, same saltiness too, the finish is amazing, a very long silky sensation. An awesome red.

Now, as promised, a brief description of Tagliafierro’s premium wine

RISERVA 2015 red DOC COSTA D’AMALFI

1000 ltr produced, again a 50/50 coupage Piedirosso/Tintore, from old vines only, (the old Tintore plant shown on the second photo contributes to this wine)

The light conditions in Ravello’s night weren’t as good as in Tramonti’s noon but the colour in reality is very similar to the one of Tramunte.

Here you can feel the Tintore more: a fruit of pomegranate, red currant, less spicy, tannins still a bit sharp, the finish is long and elegant lacking the silky elegance of the Tramunte, if I can make a guess, let’s wait until the end of the current year, I think it can become a “Grand Vin“.

The winery will attend an event dedicated to “heroic” viticulture in Mogliano Veneto, the second Sunday and Monday of February.

They have a Facebook page and here is their website:

http://www.cantinatagliafierro.it

Until next time

Cin Cin

Gian Luca Garattoni