The Wine Pair Podcast

Italian Wine Adventure #15: Greco di Tufo!

• The Wine Pair • Season 1 • Episode 160

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What a beautiful wine! You may not have heard of Greco di Tufo, and you may not be familiar with wines from Campania in southern Italy, but we are hoping that we can change that! Greco is an ancient wine grape, brought to the area around Naples by the Greeks thousands of years ago, that nearly went extinct in this area of Italy. Thankfully, some hard working farmers and heritage wine making projects kept the wine alive, and we are the lucky benefactors today. There are only four DOCG designations in Campania - that is the highest designation of Italian wine - and Greco di Tufo is one of them. The name Tufo comes from a tiny town, but also from the volcanic soil, called tuff, that gives Greco di Tufo its distinct and beautiful flavor. If you are a white wine lover, and/or a seafood lover, this wine is a must try. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2021 Vinosìa Greco Di Tufo L'ariella, 2020 Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo

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Show Notes

Episode 160: Italian Wine Adventure #15: Greco di Tufo! 00:00

Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair! 

If you are new to our podcast, here is a quick orientation! Each week, we explore a different wine varietal or blend — like Cabernet Franc or Grüner Veltliner or Greco di Tufo — and dive into what these wines are, what makes them special, and why finding new wines to learn about is so fun.  Our goal is to help you expand your wine knowledge in an entertaining way that is understandable and accessible to regular people, not just wine nerds!  We also taste and review 2-3 wines under $25 each, and share our scores and recommendations to help you find great wines without breaking the bank. So, thank you so much for joining us! And, we are proud to say that Decanter Magazine calls us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining.

Well, Carmela, we didn’t wait too long for this one, but we are going on another Italian wine adventure, this time to Campania, which is in southern Italy and is the province Naples is in, to learn about this Italian white wine called Greco di Tufo. And that’s because we are planning a trip to the Naples area, and maybe we will visit some of the wine country there?!?

Now, everyone should know all about Campania and Naples even if you think you don’t because it is, afterall, the home of everyone’s favorite food: pizza! That’s right. The first pizzas came from Naples and the birthplace is said to be a street called Via dei Tribunali, or Via Tribunali for short. 

These are not your deep dish pizzas or pan pizzas or even your New York style pizza, but rather small, beautiful simple pizzas that are light and soft and taste like heaven. You may have a pizza shop or two in your town that specialize in Neapolitan style pizzas, and if they are really legit, they will have a little sign out front that confirms they are part of the Vera Pizza Napoletana, which certifies that they are making the pizzas in the true, classic way.

So, we know you are familiar with pizza from Campania, but are you familiar with wine from Campania? Maybe yes, but probably no, and so before we talk about what Greco di Tufo is, we are going to spend just a couple of minutes on wines from Campania, because, afterall, these episodes are all about learning more about the culture and history of Italy as much as they are about wine, and wine is part of the culture and history of Italy. Ok, nerd. 

We have actually done several episodes about wines from Campania including some we are going to mention, but I would say most of these wines are still not on most people’s radars, so let’s do a little refresher. 

  • One of the great Italian red wines is made from a grape called Aglianico, and we did our first Italian Wine Adventure, way back in episode 39, on Aglianico, often called the king of southern Italian wines. The most highly regarded Aglianico wines in Campania are Taurasi, but you can also find many different Aglianico wines like Aglianico del Vulture which is actually from a different province called Basilicata and Aglianico del Taburno in Campania. In fact two of the four DOCG wine areas in Campania - DOCG is the highest designation for wine in Italy - are for Taurasi and Aglianico del Taburno. These are big, high acid and heavy tannin wines that age well and are fantastic with food. 
  • Another great wine from Campania, and also with a DOCG designation, is a wine called Fiano which we did an Italian Wine Adventure on last year in episode 105. Fiano is a white grape varietal and the most famous wine from the grape is Fiano di Avellino. Fiano is an ancient grape and has been made there for more than 2,000 years, but almost went extinct which we talked about in our episode - and you will see a similar theme in this episode. Fiano is a grape that can be made into many different styles of wine, including a bigger style that compares well with Chardonnay and can age for 10 years or more, and a tropical fruit style that compares well with a good Sauvignon Blanc and is generally drunk young.
  • Other well regarded wines from Campania include Falerno del Massico which is a white wine made primarily from the Falanghina varietal. Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio  is another - which means the tears of Christ and is named after the shape of the grapes - and these wines are produced on the hillsides of Mt. Vesuvius and are made in both white and red styles. The white wine is made from Coda di Volpe, and the red is made from the local Piedirosso grape. And there are several wines only found on the Amalfi coast including white varietals like Biancolella, Fenile, Ginestra and Ripoli, several of which are blended into one of the highest regarded Italian white wines called Marisa Cuomo Fiorduva, and the red wines Aglianico and Piedirosso. Each of these additional wines we will need to do some Italian Wine Adventure episodes on in the future!


What makes wines from Campania special are the fact that they are from some of the oldest wine producing areas in Italy, some going back as far as the 12th Century BC. Campania winemakers often combine very ancient methods with modern methods, creating some really exciting and interesting wines - something you won’t find in the mass produced wines from the US. These are also wines that are made in volcanic soils, which wine grapes like, and with hot, dry, and long growing seasons. So, for wine lovers who love bigger wines like those made in California, you may be able to find wines you really like in Campania.

But, that’s enough of that. We now need to focus on the wine of the day, and that is Greco di Tufo, and we have two Greco di Tufo wines we are going to taste and review today to see if they are worth adding to your wines to try list . . .

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

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And I have to give a HUGE shoutout to Dave Baxter on Instagram who gave a super thoughtful, thorough, and well informed response to our - and I should really say my - disparagement of Trader Joe’s. I would suggest all of you out there in listening land to read his response, but I will just say his level of insight, and the care he took to respond were kind of amazing. So, Dave, kudos to you, and it’s actually fun to learn something from our listeners and share when we, and again I should say I, get schooled a bit. 

And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should recommend The Wine Pair Podcast to - because the best way for us to grow listeners is when you tell your family and friends about us, and this week, we want you to recommend us to anyone who loves loves finding new white wines to try, because this may be an exciting wine for them to check out!

RESEARCH ARTICLES AND LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE



Topic: WTF is Greco di Tufo? 12:40

Carmela, let’s learn about just what the fuck Greco di Tufo wine is. Ok? Greco di Tufo is a wine that has been made in the Campania area for thousands of years. And, as we mentioned in the introduction, the Greeks are believed to have brought the grape to Campania over 2,500 years ago. And that, in part, is where the name comes from - Greco referring to Greek. Tufo in the name is in reference to the town of Tufo where the wine is produced. The name Tufo comes from the word "tuff," which is the soft, volcanic rock that is found in the soil in the region. And the soil is one of the things that is said to give the wine its unique character.

The Romans were also fans of the grape, which they called the nectar of the gods, and it is believed that they used it as a blending grape in some of the ancient Roman cult wines, which were wines that were associated with wealth and status. So, this is an old wine with a lot of history and importance in the area. And, maybe even a cult or two. So that’s cool.

Interestingly enough, after World War II, Greco was a grape, like many wine grapes in southern Italy, that nearly went extinct. The war evidently wreaked havoc on the vineyards, and many southern Italians also left the area for better work options, like our families did, so there was a major decline in winemaking in the area - just fewer people around making wine. Thankfully, small and family winemakers in the area, as well as what are called “heritage wine making projects” helped to keep the wine from disappearing.

In fact, they did such a good job of keeping the wine alive that in  2003, the wines from Tufo and several surrounding communities were given DOCG status and are labeled Greco di Tufo. The sort of unusual thing about this wine is that it is named for both the region and the grape. Remember, a lot of times in Europe wines are named after the region they are from, like Barolo or Chianti or Taurasi rather than the grape, which can make them confusing. In Greco di Tufo, you get both - the name of the Grape and the name of the place.

Greco di Tufo has to be made from at least 85% Greco, and up to 15% of it can be blended with the grape Coda di Volpa Bianca. And, most of the time the wine is fermented in stainless steel and does not undergo malolactic fermentation which means that this should be a nice, crisp, acidic wine. As a reminder, malolactic fermentation is a process winemakers use to decrease the acid in wine and make it a little softer and can give it buttery flavors. Sometimes, though, winemakers will make version of the wine that are aged on the lees - which again means that it is aged with the stuff that is left over from the fermentation process like dead yeast, which can give it some interesting funky flavors and bigger mouthfeel - and they sometimes also make a sparkling that is made in the traditional or classic method like Champagne rather than the method they use in Prosecco. BTW, one of the wines we are tasting and reviewing today is an on the lees wine. So that should be fun!

The area of Greco di Tufo is about an hour’s drive from the city of Naples, and is in the same area called Irpinia which is where Taurasi is also from as well as Fiano di Avellino, so Irpinia is the most important wine region in Campania and arguably southern Italy. The city of Tufo itself is a teeny tiny town of like 1,000 people.

The area of Irpinia is famous for a few other things other than wine. For one, there are some well known cheeses, including scamorza and caciocavallo. They are also well known for the salami Sopressata, for chestnuts and hazelnuts, and the black truffles of Bagnoli Irpino. Another thing they are known for are ancient castles and towns, and some towns including the town of Gesualdo which is where the famous musician and composer Carlo Gesualdo. And, now, because I am a music nerd, we need to digress a bit.

Ok, never heard of Carlo Gesualdo? Well, as a music nerd who is also a singing nerd, one of my favorite kinds of music, and one of my very favorite to sing, are madrigals, and Gesualdo is considered the father of madrigals. His songs are truly amazing, and these are some of the most moving of all religious music, and had a huge impact on modern music overall. Incidentally, he is also known for killing his first wife and her lover upon finding them in flagrante delicto - which means? Any guesses? He caught them doing the deed, and killed them. So, let's just say he’s complicated.

What does that have to do with Greco di Tufo? Really nothing. But it’s pretty interesting, and this is what I love about learning about wine because you can also learn about things related to or even in the vicinity of the wine you are learning about. And murder and stuff

But, that’s enough of that - I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we are drinking today. Whaddya say?


Greco di Tufo Wines We Chose for This Episode 22:03

Now, all of the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $25 on average, although one of them was a bit higher in cost, and one was lower, and so the average worked out, and while I bought them both at a local wine shop here in Seattle called Esquin / Mad Wine, at least one of them should be relatively easy to find because I saw it on wine.com. 

Now, you will probably not find Greco di Tufo at your local 7-11, but if you go to a wine shop with a decent wine selection, or that specializes in Italian wine, you should definitely be able to find it. And, as we always say, just go to your local wine shop and ask the shopkeeper to get you some Greco di Tufo and they will be happy to do it. 

The first wine we are going to drink is the 2021 Vinosìa Greco Di Tufo L'ariella. And, this was a wine that was super hard to find any information about, so I will talk a little bit about the Vinosìa winery because I don't have much else to talk about. 

Evidently, Vinosìa is a winery partially excavated into a hill at about 2,000 feet or 630 meters above sea level, and the winery focuses on low environmental impact, energy efficiency, and sustainable farming. They have been making wine there for three generations, and the current owner, Luciano Ercolino, is the grandson of the founder.

The winery cellar is located several meters below the surface and they did that to create a naturally cooler climate for their wine storage, and they focus on the use of French oak, which we have mentioned many times is a softer flavored oak than American. 

But, I can’t tell you much more, so let’s go to our next wine which is the 2020 Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo which Wine Enthusiast has called a “crazy food friendly wine.” And so I am not sure if they meant like really food friendly, or if they meant this was good for crazy food. What do you think?

This wine has also gotten some good ratings from Wine Enthusiast as well as Robert Parker and also sucky James Suckling. Guess what rating James Suckling gave the wine?!? You’re right, a 90. Like he gives every fucking wine. Please, just trust us, if a wine calls out a score from James Suckling you can just ignore it. 

Feudi di San Gregorio is a large winery and wine exporter, so if you are going to find a Greco di Tufo in the US, this may be the one you are likely to find.

This wine had a tech sheet, although a bit of an anemic one, but better than nothing. The wine is fermented in stainless steel, and then this is the one that spends 4 months in stainless steel on the lees before it is bottled. So, I expect this wine to have some mouthfeel to it and probably will have some good bitterness on the end.

I did find out a little bit about the winemaker behind the wine, a man called Pierpaolo Sirch. There is a link to the article in our show notes - did you know we have show notes? - and he is evidently a much sought after flying winemaker - which means he goes to different wineries to make wines - who focuses on a technique called “gentle pruning” which sounds nice. He partners with another Italian named Marco Simonit and they train vineyard owners on this pruning technique Simonit created. 

For a little bit of background, and I am not going to drain the topic, pruning takes place before the spring and is one of the more important activities to ensure a healthy vineyard and good quality grapes. Their technique is to handle each vine individually, making smaller cuts, and being aware of how the sap flows in the plants. The goal is to reduce dead wood and disease. 

He evidently came up with the technique after watching vineyards using mechanical techniques that treat each vine the same and where they cut with machines, and then finding that the vineyard owners often had to pull up their vines and replant every 20 years or so. This hand pruning technique is not new, by the way, it is just a technique that has been overlooked as vineyard production became mechanized and industrialized. It’s actually the technique that has been used for 100s and 100s of years and is the cornerstone of old vine vineyards, it just takes more time and effort to do. So, what is old is new again!

But, I think that is enough information - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us to get some participation points, which you can trade-in for free stickers. You just need to send me an email with your mailing address, and I will get those “I drink with The Wine Pair Podcast” stickers over to you!

LINKS TO SOURCES FOR THESE SPECIFIC WINES



2021 Vinosìa Greco Di Tufo L'ariella, 2020 Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo Wine Tasting, Pairing, and Review 28:17

Wine: Vinosìa Greco Di Tufo L'ariella
Region: Italy, Campania
Year: 2021
Price: $16.99
Retailer: Mad Wine / Esquin
Alcohol: 13%
Grapes:  Greco
Professional Rating: Vivino: 3.8

What we tasted and smelled in this Vinosìa Greco Di Tufo L'ariella:

  • Color: Pineapple yellow color
  • On the nose: Pineapple, citrus, apple, sweet, peach, white flower 
  • In the mouth: Very lemony, very tart, lemonade, acid, summer sipper as well as a food wine, medium mouthfeel, a little apple, underripe pineapple, pineapple syrup or juice, a touch of bitterness


Food to pair with this Vinosìa Greco Di Tufo L'ariella: A great seafood wine, cracked crab, crab cakes, fish and chips, spaghetti con vongole, spicy foods, Feast of the Seven Fishes, sushi,vegetarian foods 
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, with no half points, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Vinosìa Greco Di Tufo L'ariella Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 7/10
  • Carmela: 7/10



Wine: Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase)
Region: Italy, Irpinia
Year: 2020
Price: $25.99
Retailer: Mad Wine / Esquin
Alcohol: 12.5%
Grapes: Greco
Professional Rating: WE 91, RP 90, JS 90 Vivino 3.8

What we tasted and smelled in this Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo:

  • Color: Champagne in color, straw color, has some viscosity
  • On the nose: Lemon, cantaloupe, peach, sweet smell, honey, smells creamy, flower, cat pee
  • In the mouth: Balanced and smooth, roundness, citrus, lemony, a little bitterness on the end that is nice, stone, seashell, saline


Food to pair with this Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo: Very versatile. Seafood, but also white meat like chicken and pork, stinky cheese, appetizers through the main dish

Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 8/10
  • Carmela: 8/10


Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

  • Carmela: Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo
  • Joe: Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo


Greco di Tufo is a winner! A great white wine that you should add to your wine list.

Taste profiles expected from Greco di Tufo   40:02

  • General 
    • Aromas of lemons, pears, toasted almonds, and flowers. Flavors of citrus, white fruit, and stone fruit as well as pear, apple, lemon, apricot, and peach. Other flavors can include crushed stone and a slightly bitter aftertaste
  • Vinosìa Greco Di Tufo L'ariella
    • Winery: Powerful aromas of apricot, peach and citrus on the nose; while on the palate mineral and floral notes are framed by apple and pear flavors.
  • Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo
    • Winery: The perfume is intense and persistent. One can recall in the nose clear sensations of fruit. For the taste, one immediately perceives the broad acidity and the spicy minerality, typical of a vine cultivated in Tufo. Immediately following, there are soft notes of balsamic.
    • WE: Spring blossom, wild herb and cantaloupe aromas waft out of the glass on this lovely white. Bright and polished, the tangy palate offers ripe pear, Meyer lemon and a hint of almond alongside a mineral vein of saline.
    • RP: Bright and citrusy wine that offers grapefruit, white almond and minty pear. The wine is lean and fresh and full of the kind of taut tension that makes it a real pleasure to drink. A plate of spaghetti con vongole would do well.


Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 42:52

Ok, so, Carmela, it’s time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to follow or subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast app - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

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Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.

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