Campania has been one of the essential regions of Italian culture and wine since the Greeks settled there in the 7th century BC. Campania encompasses worlds of contradiction. Naples is the decrepit, dangerous center of a vast urban zone that gives off a Third World vibe, while the upland country of Irpinia (the provinces of Avellino and Benevento) strikes you like a neorealist movie. It remains elemental but with newer props seemingly brought in by the film crew - nicer houses, cars, strip malls on the edge of the bigger towns.

Still, you get into the countryside in minutes. It's clean. It feels ancient. Note well: the ruggedness of the landscape has made mechanized, chemicalized agriculture all but impossible. "Organic" can mean something there.

Extraordinary things are happening. Grape farmers who sold their fruit to co-ops now bottle their own wines, having upgraded their facilities and their practices in vineyard and cellar. Such small producers combine the peasant's empiricism with modern technology to make some of Italy's most thrilling wines at very competitive prices. And no, most of the small producers are not overdoing the wood. Besides, most of them can't afford barriques.

The South is rising. Campania leads the ascent.

Producers from Campania
Angelarosa, Boccella, Mustilli, Reale, Terra di Vento