Preview Tre Bicchieri 2021. The best wines of Campania

Sep 30 2020, 14:49 | by Gambero Rosso

We reveal a sneak preview of the wines awarded with the Tre Bicchieri recognition in our guide Vini d’Italia 2021. Today we focus on Campania.

The best wines of Campania

In Campania there are rare flavors to be discovered. By virtue of its mind-boggling biodiversity, these flavors are everywhere, in Campania's wines as well as its dishes. Here is the food ever delicious. And you can taste it in the glass. The area under vine? 24,200 hectares, and in our guide we cover 106 wineries, with a number of new entries, from small, artisanal wineries to large producers whose output reaches millions of bottles per year. In a panorama that's varied (to say the least) the constants in the bottle are Campania's marine sensations and Mediterranean profile. We think of its islands, the vines that grow on the slopes of Vesuvius, the vineyards over-looking the sea in Cilento, or those wonderful patches of vineyards in the form of terraces on the Amalfi Coast. But there are also the hills of Benevento and Irpinia, with its terrain rich in marine sediment, crossed by layers of tuff and limestone. And in Caserta the influence of the volcano returns to lend a darker, sapid rhythm to the wines.

This year Campania snatches 23 Tre Bicchieri. We welcome 2 wineries to the club: Tenuta Scuotto (thanks to their 2019 Fiano d'Avellino), and Fiorentino (thanks to an excellent 2015 Taurasi). The district of Irpinia took the lead with 12 Tre Bicchieri. It's followed by Sannio with 4 awards, 3 in the Salerno area, 2 in Caserta, and 2 for the Phlegraean Fields (in this case in the province of Naples). Fiano di Avellino once again reigns supreme, but Greco di Tufo and Falanghina, both in Sannio and in the Phlegraean Fields, are keeping the momentum going thanks to a good 2019 vintage.

We're also seeing good signs from Taurasi. For years it hadn't been able to reach 4 golds, but this time was different thanks to inter-pretations that aren't focusing strictly on power. Finally, we'd like to mention a few red Due Bicchieri, excellent wines that reached our finals. We start with Passo delle Tortore's Greco di Tufo Le Arcaie, the best version in our guide. Then there's Nanni Copè's recent addition, the lovely white Polveri della Scarrupata. We shouldn't forget the unique, mature and smoky Terra di La-voro by Galardi or the delicately salty, sulphurous and powerful texture of Angelo Muto's Greco di Tufo Miniere. Casebianche's La Matta Dosaggio Zero is a carefree Fiano that undergoes sec-ond fermentation, and dances in the bottle. Contrade di Taurasi's Grecomusc' is redolent of mountain herbs. Finally, we wanted to point out a Fiano produced in one of the most evocative places on the planet, Punta Tresino, in Cilento. Here San Giovanni produces a Fiano that's so close to the sea you can hear the waves breaking when you drink it.