Our white of the moment is without doubt the Cruna del Lago from Campania, an expression of Falanghina the likes of which we have never seen before. Packed full of minerality, spice, smoke and with plenty of verve, this is possibly one of the best whites you’ve never heard of! In her Times article “The cheats way of choosing a great wine,” Jane MacQuitty waxes lyrical “……in Italy, the Falanghina grape displays some of this quality, but Campania’s gorgeous 2016 Cruna del Lago La Sibilla also bristles with intense, steely, smoky, minerally oomph”
La Sibilla is a family-owned project established in 1997 by the di Meos, fifth generation vine-growers who had previously been selling grapes and wine in bulk to merchants. Their 9.5 ha of vines are situated in the unique but barely -known DOC Campi Flegrei, a tiny 200 hectare terrain wedged between Napoli and its coast that comprises a total of 23 wine producers. Here, the intensely volcanic soils make for Falanghina unlike any other – strongly mineral, salty and smoky – wines of unforgettable character and persistence. The di Meos, being a fifth generation family of growers, were blessed by their ancestors with the enviable gift of a wonderful spread of old vines, some of which were planted nearly 100 years ago. The vineyards face south west and are rooted in sandy, ashy pomice-based volcanic soils, distinct from the lava-originated soils of Etna or Vesuvius. No fuss wine-making is the order of the day. Their whites are simply fermented and aged sur lie in tank without any wood, resulting in the purest, most crystalline and mineral examples of Falanghina we can ever remember tasting.