Tasting Reviews- Greco di Tufo

"You don't stumble upon your heritage. It's there, just waiting to be explored and shared."- Robbie Robertson

Greco di Tufo 

Greco di Tufo is actually a DOCG in the region of Campania, Southern Italy. 

Greco di Tufo grape is actually a clone of the Greco Bianco and it was believed that this varietal was introduced to the region by the Pelasgians from Thessaly in Greece.. The word Tufo wasn't only mean the region but also the type of rock o which the village was built.. Tufo is made from the ash that was compacted from the eruption of the volcano.. 

The vines are cultivated at an altitude of 450-500 metres which results to a cooler temperatures that allows the grape to have a consistent amount of sunshine without dangering itself to the point of being sunburnt or halt the photosynthesis process of the vines.. This combination of cooler temperatures and consistent sunshine helps the grapes to ripen without losing much acidity yet retaining the fruit flavours.. 

The best Greco di Tufo are on the volcanic hills of the Avellino province in central Campania.. In this region there is only 8 villages designatd to make Greco di Tufo:

Tufo 

Montefusco

Petruro Irpino 

Chianche 

Torrioni

Altavilla

Iprina 

Prata di Principato Ultra

This region appellation DOCG was received in the year 2003.. It states that the wines named as Greco di Tufo must contain a minimum of 85% of the grape varietal and 15% from the local grape varietal which is Coda di Volpe Bianca.. 

Greco di Tufo spumante style is allowed to be produced but it must be aged at least 3 years before release.. 

Greco Bianco are relatively deep in colour for a white wine with a profound nose with slight similarity to a viognier aroma characteristics.. 

In terms of palate, this wine isn't the fruity type of wine; it does have some fruit elements in the palate but mainly it leans more towards the stone fruit like peaches and also some citrus fruits like lemon and lime slight hint of tangerine and also not to forget a subtle note of minerality in it from the soil.. 

Greco Bianco tend to have a medium to high acidity which makes this wine seems to be tart and crisp which is a nice wine to have that can help you to be the cheerleader for the entire meal!

It can be bottle aged and the wine will continuously develop the flavour from fruit and minerality to add in some herbal notes that at times people fear of the after effects of oxidation! 

For this time, we had the opportunity to try out one of the Greco di Tufo wines available in KL! 

Tasting notes:

Aroma& Appearance:

Lemon gold in colour with an intense and powerful perfume of ripe pears, peaches, honey baked almond, tropical fruits like pineapples, lemon, lime, honeydew, candied apple, honeysuckle and slight hint of minerality like the limestones

Palate:

This wine has a medium bodied with a very refreshing and creamy mouthfeel which isn't heavy or overwhelming.. The acidity of this wine is on the medium plus side with an intensified notes of lemon, lemon peel, peaches, pear, apricot, green apple, pineapple and dried mangoes towards the end.. It has a very long and lingering finish on the palate which is really memorable

Food pairing:
tomato based food like pasta bolognese or Margherita pizza
Aperitif wines
Italian antipasti
seafood, prawns
mushroom risotto
deep fried beignets

Alternative grape varietal to try out are:
Fiano
Grechetto
Grillo
Fiano di Avellino