Cantina Taurasi Lonardo

The Contrade di Taurasi winery was founded in Taurasi, in the heart of Irpinia, in 1998 thanks to the firm resolve of Sandro Lonardo, a retired Latin professor. The Lonardo family, however, already had centuries-old farming traditions in the region. The winery's rules can be summed up in four points: exclusive use of grapes from the family's own vineyards, use of native yeasts to transfer the aromas and flavors of the territory into the wine, optimization of winemaking processes and experimentation with new techniques both in the vineyard and in the cellar. Perhaps it is precisely experimentation that is one of the salient aspects of this winery: to this end, the Lonardo family relies on a group of outstanding technicians, university professors from Naples and Palermo. To this team of experts we owe the operation of recovery of an ancient local free-range vine, of which there were few strains scattered in the Irpinian countryside, the Grecomusc, the White Roviello, which in dialect means "moscio Greco," because of the mushy and water-poor grapes. In this work of recovery and experimentation Sandro was validly supported by oenologist Maurizio De Simone and microbiologist Giancarlo Moschetti, and the experimental winemaking was conducted with the support of the Federico II University of Naples. Grecomusc is produced in minimal quantities: about 2,500 bottles a year and is the only white wine produced by the winery. If Grecomusc represents research and experimentation, Aglianico represents tradition: it is the main grape variety used and from it two excellent wines are produced-the Taurasi DOCG, and in particularly favorable vintages, the Taurasi Riserva.