2024 Casa Setaro, Falanghina “Campanelle” IGT, Campania, Italy.
I was highly impressed by this 2024 Casa Setaro Campanelle Falanghina Campania IGT with its beautiful fresh detailing, mineral driven core of white peach, lemon/lime, quince and earthy muskmelon fruits, brisk, spicy, stony and complex palate and bitter almond finish. This is pure as pure gets and a delicious volcanic soil influenced, Southern Italian white wine that offers a lot of charm, personality and authentic character in the glass. This brilliant, dry, crisp and Summery lightly golden hued Falanghina will be joyous over the next few warm months and great with lighter meals, especially sea food dishes. For this wine, all organic grapes from own-rooted vines set on volcanic ash soils, Casa Setaro employed an all stainless steel fermentation and aging program with a gentle pressing and about 6 months on the lees, which all turned out with some excellent results, as seen in the bottle.
This was my first experience with Casa Setaro, run by Massimo Setaro, which is located in Trecase, in the province of Naples, within the Vesuvius National Park, that since 1995 has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, with a collection of organic vines. Planted between 200 and 400 meters above sea level, Casa Setaro’s vineyards, all ungrafted vines, set on the region’s volcanic soils, are certified organic and farmed with biodynamic practices. Casa Setaro does a unique selection of wines led by Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio, Falanghina, seen here and Piedirosso, plus they have been working to revive local native vines at risk of extinction, such as Caprettone. Interestingly, Massimo has decided for personal reasons not to work with maybe the region’s most famous grape, Aglianico, which seems strange, but I guess there’s a story there. I liked this wine so much, I’m now itching to try the rest of the lineup here, especially the rare native varietals and the Piedirosso Vesuvio DOC Rosso, which is not often seen here in the States.
($27 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive