From the island of Sicily we present Fiano, an Old World grape normally found on the mainland of Italy. While it's best known when grown in Campagnia and Puglia, it's finding a perfect home in the warm, engaging hills of Sicily. It loves the heat of Sicily, and it turns the sun into big, impressive wines. Fiano is a wonderful wine served with Mediterranean dishes, shellfish, and cheeses.
Fiano is an ancient white wine grape that was known to the Romans. It is native to southern Italy's Campania region, specifically from the hills around the town of Avellino. Fiano is best known in the DOCG Fiano di Avellino. In addition to making dry white wines, some producers make sparkling and dessert wines with this grape.
La Carraia was founded in 1976 by the Gialetti and Cotarella families as a producer of bulk wines for top-of-the-line estates such as Ruffino and Rocca delle Macie. Today La Carraia is the leading estate in the new emerging production of excellent red wines from the Orvieto zone. Winemaker Riccardo Cotarella is respected throughout Italy and abroad as a leading authority in the production and marketing of Italian wines. The winery owns 200 acres and is bottling its own wines.
Our selection is one of the most exotic and exciting wines we've featured in a long time. Fiano di Avellino in Campagnia is a DOCG wine, meaning it has to be grown, produced and vinified under very specific conditions and then must pass a tasting panel. While our Fiano selection from La Carraia not a DOCG wine, it certainly showcases the grape's unique characteristics at a fraction of the price.
November 2009 Limited Series Newsletter (.pdf)
