Why Campania is my beat

One of them at least.

I appreciate all your comments about Campanian and southern wines in general.  I wish I had more time to write a lengthy post, even a disquisition on why I'm so high on Campania and, less loftily, the Mezzogiorno in general.

Some of you pointed out that Campania is an ecological disaster.  Certainly in the provinces of Napoli and Caserta there are large areas of devastation; after all, they are part of a vast metropolitan complex that stretches all the way to Salerno.  Those intensely industrialized and overbuilt areas of the region are indeed a horror.  But to imply that the entire region is a dump is to equate New Jersey with the environmental and urban disasters you see from the Turnpike.  A great deal of the Garden State is beautiful, clean and well-preserved, or conserved.  Likewise, Campania is a complex, varied place.  Go into the Avellino hills and close by the border with Basilicata and you'll see what I mean.

As to the wine scene, I'm not concerned with the masses of producers of shitty, cheap, often adulterated wine.  I'm not thinking about "industrial" wine of any kind, which is no more characteristic of Campania than it is of Veneto or Tuscany.  I'm thinking about what they call the nuove realtà -- the "new realities" or "new developments" -- that are surging in the hinterlands of Irpinia and elsewhere.  Whether it's in Luciano Pignataro's highly informative little book Nuova Guida ai Vini della Campania, L'Irpinia or the Gambero Rosso, a frequent sentence is "so-and-so produced grapes for the local co-op until 2003 when he decided to bottle his own wine," etc.  In other words, there are plenty of newer wineries, usually on small family farms with ancient vines, that aspire to reach or surpass the levels of quality achieved by Mastroberardino and a few other of the best "old-guard" producers.

A key element in all of this is the role of a journalist like

Pignataro, who uses Il Mattino as his bully pulpit to inform the public about the best of the local produce and wines of the region, and to a lesser extent of the Mezzogiorno as a whole.  His passion for the food and wines of the area provide a focused point of reference of information and promotion, and his efforts, in association with provincial and regional authorities, have given the public a basis for better understanding and supporting the best local products.  As a couple of you pointed out, there needs to be a concerted promotional effort made by the regional government and the consortia. They may be divided, corrupt and inefficient (their worst failing), but there is a countervailing effort, though its reach is admittedly rather local.  And let's remember how long it took richer, more plugged-in Tuscany to get past its straw-flask image: decades.

Another positive factor is the emergence of people like Luigi Moio and Fortunato Sebastiano.  These enologi aren't the hit-and-run type that waltz in, assess what you're doing wrong and prescribe the same formula for success.  These people work in the vineyards and in the cellar and calibrate their counsel to the condition of the soil, the lie of the land, the types of grapes, and the capabilities of the cellar.  And they assist the producer in making wines that best express his or her vision, for the best expression of the terroir.  "Best expression of the terroir" does not, in Campania, mean the introduction of French varieties.

I note that the harshest comments come from people who are farthest away from the nuove realtà of Campania, and who spend little or no time there.  I was once of your party.  Now that I have spent a great deal of time there, equivalent to a couple of months in the past year alone, I have to say that I believe your views are shaped by the relentlessly negative press coverage of that area (Camorra! garbage! crime!), not to mention a reflexive regional prejudice.  Leaving the wreck of Naples aside, you quickly enter other zones with a different physical environment, different manners and values, and a different set of expectations for the future. 

Comments

[Susannah Gold]

Bravo. I agree and love wines from that region any day of the week. Gomorra was shocking though.