Luigi Tecce "Mamam" Irpinia Bianco, Campania, Italy 2024

FROM PORTOVINO:

THE WINE: 45% Greco, 25% Fiano, 25% Coda di Volpe and 5% Moscato. The vine age is a mix of mostly old vines over forty years old. The vine training here is unique, as the vines grow more like tree-vines, with a trunk in the middle and numerous radiating outward shoots—reminiscent of bush vines on a pergola. This local training system is called raggiera avellinese.

THE PRODUCER: A visit to Luigi Tecce can get you emotional. Luigi himself is a ball of them, and his Aglianico from Taurasi elicits them. His grandfather’s masseria (farmhouse) and vineyards are located in the Taurasi subzone known as Sud-Alta Valle (South-High Valley). It’s one of Taurasi’s high-altitude growing areas, having a soil that’s layered with sand, limestone and Vesuvius’ pumice; it’s also the dwelling of Luigi’s 80+ year old vine-trees. There’s no enologist and no agronomist, Luigi works in relative solitude. Maybe that’s why there’s such an affinity between him and the wines: exuberant and guarded, archaic and immediate, literary and literal; there’s something theatrical in their pleasure. The wines come from the tradition and grandeur of Mastroberardino’s Taurasi bottlings, but I feel Luigi’s one of a very limited group of Taurasi producers that are eclipsing the old master.