Grapes for this 100% Fiano wine come from the renowned Contrada Tognano, historically considered one of the most exceptional sites for this traditional grape. This Cru wine is produced from a careful selection of grapes harvested from vines grafted with the century-old Fiano clone (pre-phylloxera). An ideal combination of soil, microclimate, altitude, and east-facing exposition make for a particularly characteristic wine. The Fiano di Avellino Tognano boasts great structure, acidity and complexity while typical varietal aromas of white fruits and citrus combine with mint and slightly toasty notes. Unique hints of hydrocarbon become more evident with time.
The 2020 Fiano di Avellino Rierva Tognano combines richness with verve, wafting up with a sweetly smoky blend of crushed rocks and dried apricot. This is textual with a pleasant inner sweetness up front, as a cascade of lime-tinged orchard fruits flow throughout. The 2020 finishes youthfully tense and savory, with a salty sensation that contrasts nectarine tones. This is a total pleasure to taste today, yet it has the balance to mature beautifully over the next five to eight years.
Crushed rocks, raw almonds, young peach and mint aromas form a complex bouquet as the 2019 Fiano di Avellino Riserva Tognano opens in the glass. It floods the palate with an intense mix of saline minerals and zesty green citrus, as notes of tart green apple combine with an enriching hint of hazelnut. This finishes with medium length and a cool-toned feel, ending with a salty sensation.
Notes of herbs, nuts, toasted bread, lemon and orange peel and a blend of flowery grassiness are on the nose before the palate turns fruit-forward with mixed citrus, melon, pear and white peach.
Flavors of tart lemon and green apple are crisp and precise, with focused acidity that carries the wine as it gains pleasant smoky tones.
A tight nose, which shows citrus fruit, white peach and chamomile. Medium-bodied with very bright acidity that carries the fruit and floral character well. The exacting balance of delicate flavors that this wine effortlessly juggles makes it a pleasure to drink now.
The 2018 Fiano di Avellino Tognano is an understated beauty, as it opens slowly with a delicate display of honeyed flowers, chamomile, and white smoke. It takes time in the glass for notes of lemon oil, nectarine and minty herbs to evolve. This fills the palate with soft, pliant textures and ripe orchard fruits complemented by notes of almond paste, as a reverberation of saline-minerals generates toward the close. The 2018 Tognano leaves the moth watering, while it slowly fades from the senses with notes of sweetened sun tea and a salty flourish.
With fruit grown in the sandy, volcanic-ash soils of the Avellino province, the Rocca del Principe 2017 Fiano di Avellino Tognano is a beautifully fragrant and pure expression of the Fiano grape that really gets down to the basics. The wine shows fresh fruit aromas of peach and white flower, all framed delicately by ash and crushed river stone. This wine is quite delicate and fresh, but it definitely excels in terms of its purity. This was a release of about 3,000 bottles.
Luminous straw-green. Minty herbs, nectarine and stones on the bright, fresh nose. Clean and lively flavors similar to the aromas convey outstanding clarity and cut. Finishes long and pure, with hints of peppery ginger and minerals. Outstanding Fiano di Avellino from a recognized master of the variety and 100-year-old plants - a winning combination. I am glad to find that Tognano, in this vintage at least, speaks more than it has in the past of both the Fiano variety and the Arianello terroir, as opposed to winemaking methods such as extended lees contact, the yeasty-herbal character of which dominated previously.
Released one year (or more) later than its peers, the 2016 Fiano di Avellino Tognano shows more depth and structure than the lower-tier Fiano released by Rocca del Principe (from the 2017 vintage). This has to do with the two very different vintages—the more balanced 2016 and the hotter 2017 vintage—as much as it has to do with this wine's extra year of bottle age. However, at its core, this wine offers easygoing aromas of citrus, white peach and crushed mineral. Fruit comes from 28-year-old vines in the Contrada Tognano in Lapio. A mere 3,000 bottles were made.
Tognano comes from Contrada Arianiello, one of the highest and most suited village sites for the Fiano grape, where Rocca del Principe owns 10ha -five of which are Fiano vines. The wine is focused on delicate minerality with a slightly petrolly aroma, possibly due to the warm 2015 vintage. It's lemony in flavour with an outstanding savoury, black olive complexity and depth. Taut and vibrant, it would be the perfect match for spaghetti with clams.
The 2015 Fiano di Avellino Tognano shows a rich, creamy and more mature flavor profile. This is a soft, lean to mid-weight white with abundant tones of stone fruit, melon, sweet almond and salty mineral. The mouthfeel is round and supple. Tognano is macerated on the skins for 12 hours and aged on the lees with frequent stirring for 12 months. That's how the wine gets its pretty texture. Some 3,000 bottles were made.
Golden-tinged straw-yellow. Potpourri and sweet spices complicate yellow apple and apricot on the nose and palate. Dense and savory, with a tactile component on the long peppery finish. Less fruity and floral thanthe 2016 Fiano di Avellino, and deeper but less concentrated and layered than the 2015 Fiano Tognano. Though I realize Tognano is an important Fiano cru, the wine seems to me (in this vintage, at least) to speak more of the winemaking - such as a much longer stay on the lees, for example - than of the specific terroir.
This white opens with heady aromas of white spring flower, orchard fruit and pastry cream. On the medium-bodied palate, notes of white pepper and ginger underscore apple and citrus while mineral and almond wrap up the close.
