Ciro Picariello Fiano di Avellino

Ciro Picariello's winery is one of the three or four all-important producers of Fiano di Avellino, a wine that is rightly counted among the two or three greatest white wines in Italy. The area is Summonte, where high altitude vines, which reach over 700 metres on mineral-dense, volcanic soils with very strong day/night temperature differences in every season, give a white wine unique for its minerality and longevity. A visit to Ciro and his family’s cellar (his wife Rita and children Emma and Bruno) gives all the signs of the essentiality and austerity of the product. A Fiano that, all vineyard and only steel, does not need many frills to express itself with finesse, power and solemnity over time.

In a range that also offers an interesting spumante, Greco, Falanghina and Aglianico, Fiano is certainly the master. It is a fragrant white wine, strongly expressive of its terroir. It has a straw-yellow colour with green-gold reflections. The aromatic profile is intense and characteristic, with hints of wild flowers, apple, rosemary and dried fruit; all counterpointed by a strong mineral note of flint, characteristic of Summonte and destined for a long evolution in the bottle.

On the palate it expresses a fresh, sapid, persistent and elegant flavour, with hints of citrus and white fruit. A great Fiano, ideal for accompanying hot fish starters, fish soup in white sauce, steamed shellfish and grilled fish, but also to be tried with more complex dishes such as second courses of white meat.